From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Feb 17 01:34:56 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C8615106564A for ; Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:34:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82F268FC0A for ; Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:34:56 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id q1H1YsYv048168; Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:34:54 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.5/8.14.5/Submit) with ESMTP id q1H1YrZp048165; Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:34:53 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:34:53 -0700 (MST) From: Warren Block To: Jeremy Chadwick In-Reply-To: <20120217001829.GA59869@icarus.home.lan> Message-ID: References: <4F355A5B.9080007@rewt.org.uk> <4F35743B.4020302@os2.kiev.ua> <4F37DBA3.7030304@cran.org.uk> <20120213195554.O46120@sola.nimnet.asn.au> <092c01cceb40$2dc8f240$895ad6c0$@fisglobal.com> <095a01cceb54$04a38fb0$0deaaf10$@fisglobal.com> <4F3ACDE7.8060003@bit0.com> <4F3D9A7C.7080900@quip.cz> <20120217001829.GA59869@icarus.home.lan> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.7 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:34:54 -0700 (MST) Cc: Mike Andrews , freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, Miroslav Lachman <000.fbsd@quip.cz> Subject: Re: New BSD Installer X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:34:56 -0000 On Thu, 16 Feb 2012, Jeremy Chadwick wrote: > On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 01:08:28AM +0100, Miroslav Lachman wrote: >> >> Please don't mix two things together. gpart can replace fdisk and >> bsdlabel, but GPT vs. MBR is a different thing. GPT doesn't play >> nice with GEOM classes which store their metadata on last sector. >> For example, you can't use gmirror of a whole drives and use GPT on >> top of this mirror. (and gmirror is not the only one) > > This is quite possibly the most concise, clearest definition of a major > (borderline catastrophic) situation pertaining to GPT + GEOM > combinations. > > I'm going to be more bold than usual: who is fixing this, and when is it > going to be MFC'd to 9, 8, and probably 7 would be a good idea? If > nobody is fixing this, someone had better light a fire under someone's > ass to fix it. I'm absolutely amazed this is still a problem. How can it be fixed? GPT only has two points of reference, the start and end of the disk. To do more it would have to be aware of a lot of possible disk formats. On the other hand, GEOM stuff works inside GPT partitions. And if that's not acceptable, MBR partitions will be around for a long time.