From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 14 17:08:29 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3C86ABB for ; Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:08:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwatson@FreeBSD.org) Received: from cyrus.watson.org (cyrus.watson.org [65.122.17.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A032EFD7 for ; Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:08:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from c0157.aw.cl.cam.ac.uk (c0157.aw.cl.cam.ac.uk [128.232.100.157]) by cyrus.watson.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 9F58B46B3C; Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:08:28 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: FDT on x86 and for non-fdtbus devices. Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1283) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii From: "Robert N. M. Watson" In-Reply-To: Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:08:27 +0000 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <9E6F6629-BB8B-4DE9-8348-56516D9D4E97@FreeBSD.org> References: <03A622DA-EFD4-4984-8FC3-CD8B4832C32E@xcllnt.net> <8606E19D-98A2-4E2C-A9E3-5056C1BAC34E@bsdimp.com> To: Marcel Moolenaar X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1283) Cc: "freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org Arch" X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:08:29 -0000 On 14 Feb 2013, at 17:00, Marcel Moolenaar wrote: > I think it's a feature to instantiate GEOMs from the FDT. > Creating a mirrored disk configuration when the disks are > already in use cannot in general be done using tasting. > The assumption that the last sector is free is invalid > with GPT and it has created conformance problems for us > already. Being able to construct the gmirror GEOM from the > FDT eliminates the need to scribble meta-data on the disk > and as such allows us to mirror 2 GPT disks at the disk > level without instantaneously becoming non-conformant. Especially in our case, where the first block of the flash is definitely = reserved for things other than partition table data structures. :-) Robert=