From owner-freebsd-ppc@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 17 16:56:15 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ppc@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 70A62106566B for ; Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:56:15 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from marcel@xcllnt.net) Received: from mail.xcllnt.net (mail.xcllnt.net [70.36.220.4]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3C1DC8FC23 for ; Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:56:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: from sa-nc-common-112.static.jnpr.net (natint3.juniper.net [66.129.224.36]) (authenticated bits=0) by mail.xcllnt.net (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id pAHGXFPo028402 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NO); Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:33:21 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from marcel@xcllnt.net) Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1251.1) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=koi8-r From: Marcel Moolenaar In-Reply-To: <4EC52908.50000@FreeBSD.org> Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:33:15 -0800 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <2EF7C544-6D08-4A8D-8F6E-EE37225A4135@xcllnt.net> References: <20111116224604.6403be5a.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> <4EC4D537.4050704@FreeBSD.org> <20111117124742.50779e7a.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> <4EC4F868.9020901@FreeBSD.org> <4EC52908.50000@FreeBSD.org> To: "Andrey V. Elsukov" X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1251.1) Cc: Marcel Moolenaar , freebsd-ppc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: IBook G4 and FreeBSD 9.0-RC2: unable to create four slices on hard drive? X-BeenThere: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the PowerPC List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:56:15 -0000 On Nov 17, 2011, at 7:32 AM, Andrey V. Elsukov wrote: > On 17.11.2011 16:04, Andrey V. Elsukov wrote: >>> entries: 3 >> ^^^ - this is why you get this error. >>=20 >> This information is from the metadata. >> I'm not familiar with APM partition table, but may be Marcel can = suggest something? >=20 > So, i wrote a small patch. It reserves first 14 sectors to be able > create new partitions. Also, we can add a check that is there some = free > space to extend APM when we are trying to add new partition. > Marcel what you think about that? I don't think it's a good idea for the simple reason that if I want to split the first partition into 2, I may find that I cannot recreate the first at the same offset as the one I deleted, because gpart adjusted the first usable sector. The fundamental problem here is that the APM only has 3 entries usable for partitions and since we don't have a gpart method for extending the partition table, users just need to destroy and recreate. Which is another reason why no partition scheme should have magic behaviour: if we later add a method of extending the partition table, any magic behaviour is likely to be in the way. In general: don't look too much and/or too often to quick and dirty "magical" work-arounds or solutions. Understand the problem and be willing to say that we don't have a solution for it (yet). Keep the schemes simple and straight-forward so they all behave the same with roughly the same limitations and features. FYI, --=20 Marcel Moolenaar marcel@xcllnt.net