From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Oct 16 23:08:00 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 7CBBE106566B for ; Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:08:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 249488FC48 for ; Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:07:59 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-71-245.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.71.245]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 245F01D937; Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:07:59 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id n9GN7w1w002564; Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:07:58 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:07:58 +0200 From: Polytropon To: PJ Message-Id: <20091017010758.088b8b8c.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4AD8EB8F.9010900@videotron.ca> References: <4AD8EB8F.9010900@videotron.ca> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: I hate to bitch but bitch I must X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:08:00 -0000 On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:54:23 -0400, PJ wrote: > Why is it that the manual pages, as thorough as they may be, are very, > very confusing. A common misunderstanding about manpages can be that they are often (wishfully?) seen as a tutorial or a howto. In fact, they are references. > Perhaps I am being too wary, but I find that too many > instructions/examples are stumbling blocks to appreciation of the whole > system: > for instance, let's look at the instructions for changing disk labels > with glabel or is it tunefs ? > man glabel(8): > > for UFS the file system label is set with > tunefs(8) > . > what happened to glabel? That's confusing... > man tunefs(8) > The *tunefs* utility cannot be > run on an active file system. To change an active file system, it must > be downgraded to read-only or unmounted. > > So, you have to run tunefs from an active file system to modify another > disk? No. "Active file system" refers to a file system that is mounted rw - the common method of using a file system. But in order to run a program from a file system, the file system can as well be mounted ro. This still allows running programs. A setting you'll often find is maintenance done in single user mode; here, / is mounted ro to give access to the basic programs in /bin and /sbin. All other partitions, including /usr, are not mounted. They don't need to be for having a fully functional system in maintenance mode. > but from man tunefs: > BUGS > This utility should work on active file systems. > What in hades does this mean--just above it says cannot be run on active > file systems. ??? It "should". This means: Don't try that. :-) My printer isn't printing! But it should. No, it is not printing! Yes, but it should. :-) > To change the root file > system, the system must be rebooted after the file system is tuned. > > You can tune a file system, but you cannot tune a fish. > How cute... And fish eat bugs. Nice you found this. :-) > Seriously, now to the manual: > To create a permanent label for a UFS2 file system without destroying > any data, issue the following command: > # tunefs -L /home/ /dev/da3 > > Oh? home is what? What does this have to do with the partitions? The volume name, according to the manual, is "/home/" now, isn't it? > from manual: > # tunefs -L /home/ //dev/da3/ I cannot find this in the tunefs manual in group 8... It seems that there are too many /s in it... > Do people who write this stuff ever read it? Tell me that its clear and > simple and to the point... so far, I have been running back and forth > between half a dozen web pages trying to understand what is going on... > and doing things through a dense fog does not produce creative results! Wow... I'm having problems now, too. Maybe I should re-read the manpages a few times... -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...