From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Nov 28 11:29:49 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D0B37106566C for ; Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:29:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ohartman@mail.zedat.fu-berlin.de) Received: from outpost1.zedat.fu-berlin.de (outpost1.zedat.fu-berlin.de [130.133.4.66]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8A4898FC19 for ; Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:29:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: from inpost2.zedat.fu-berlin.de ([130.133.4.69]) by outpost1.zedat.fu-berlin.de (Exim 4.69) with esmtp (envelope-from ) id <1NELUq-0007v9-0Q>; Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:29:48 +0100 Received: from e178042063.adsl.alicedsl.de ([85.178.42.63] helo=thor.walstatt.dyndns.org) by inpost2.zedat.fu-berlin.de (Exim 4.69) with esmtpsa (envelope-from ) id <1NELUp-00035s-U4>; Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:29:48 +0100 Message-ID: <4B1109AB.6070007@mail.zedat.fu-berlin.de> Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:29:47 +0100 From: "O. Hartmann" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 (X11/20091126) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Daniel O'Connor References: <4AF7D802.7030401@zedat.fu-berlin.de> <200911091640.35419.doconnor@gsoft.com.au> In-Reply-To: <200911091640.35419.doconnor@gsoft.com.au> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.7 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Originating-IP: 85.178.42.63 Cc: "O. Hartmann" , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Installer: missing GEOM/gpart capabilities slicing disk? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:29:49 -0000 Daniel O'Connor wrote: > [ -current CC dropped ] > On Mon, 9 Nov 2009, O. Hartmann wrote: >> I try to install a fresh new FreeBSD 8.0-RC2 (from snapshot-DVD) on a >> barndnew harddrive. As far as I recall partitioning a disk is now >> done via gpart and the limitation of having only 8 (-2) partitions >> from a through h except b and c is now obsoleted. When dropping into >> the installation process, I realised that the 8 partition boundary is >> still present. >> Is there a howto (I searched the wiki and lists without success)? I >> read a lot about how to install FreeBSD on op of a complete ZFS >> infrastructure, but key issue seems to be a hands-on partitioning of >> the target haddrive via the fixit procedure. > > sysinstall does not [yet] do GPT partitions, I believe someone is > working on patches but I have no idea what state they are in. Oh, I regret this. GPT partitions seem to me to be much more powerful than the old MBR. Hope we can get GPT support/replacement soon. > > Also, I didn't think that bsdlabel was limited to 8 partitions, however > I'm not certain. Manpage of bsdlabel(8) tells us that it can hold 8 entries in the partitioning table. I'm not quite sure, but months ago I read something about a change/patch allowing up to 26 entries (limitation to the alphabet). Days ago I installed a fresh new FreeBSD 8 on a new harddisk to get rid of some legacy geometry errors. I was wondering why still the a - h-label constraint in bsdlabel was still present. > > BTW gpart does many partition types not just MBR and GPT. > Oliver