From owner-freebsd-bugs Thu Jul 13 8:20: 5 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (freefall.FreeBSD.ORG [204.216.27.21]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC1AA37B7C6 for ; Thu, 13 Jul 2000 08:20:01 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from gnats@FreeBSD.org) Received: (from gnats@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.9.3/8.9.2) id IAA20586; Thu, 13 Jul 2000 08:20:01 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from gnats@FreeBSD.org) Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 08:20:01 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <200007131520.IAA20586@freefall.freebsd.org> To: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org Cc: From: Udo Erdelhoff Subject: Re: conf/19849: MAKEDEV still defaults to da0X instead of da0s1X Reply-To: Udo Erdelhoff Sender: owner-freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org The following reply was made to PR conf/19849; it has been noted by GNATS. From: Udo Erdelhoff To: Bruce Evans Cc: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: conf/19849: MAKEDEV still defaults to da0X instead of da0s1X Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 17:12:39 +0200 Hi Bruce, > /dev/da0X is not for "dangerously dedicated" disks. It is for the first > BSD slice. this fact should be documented somewhere. I've been using FreeBSD since 2.something and I didn't know that. A user on one of the german FreeBSD mailing lits was bitten by the missing inodes and none of the regulars (including at least one core member) had that piece of information. > Perhaps partitions for all slices should be created. This costs 64 > directory entries and inodes per drives (16 for each slice). Some of the > wastage could be recovered by not creating entries for so many drives by > default. Make that 64 directory entries and 32 inodes. The current version of MAKEDEV creates /dev/r as a hard link to /dev/. I don't mind the wastage on my rootfs (I've used the default values for newfs when I installed the current incarnation of my machine and have lots of spare inodes) and the fixit floppy is limited to da0. The basic problem remains: sysinstall's warning about using "dangerously dedicated partitions" steers the users toward slice-based setups. sysinstall creates (or causes the creation of) the neccessary device nodes for the current setup. This works as long as the drive numbering remains unchanged. If you're forced to remove a disk or if you have to swap disks around, the system won't boot. This is a major PITA for both new users and oldtimers and should be changed. The increased inode consumption on a normal rootfs is a small price for that. If it isn't possible to create all those devices on the fixit floppy, the information about /dev/da0x being a shortcut to the FreeBSD paritions on the first FreeBSD slice of the disk should be displayed alongside the current "link /etc/passwd..." message. /s/Udo -- "The only reasonable alternative we can come up with is to close off the Internet to America Online users until they have passed an entrance test. But that would break federal laws that prohibit discrimination against the intellectually challenged." - hhahn@boardwatch.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-bugs" in the body of the message