From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Fri Sep 9 13:11:26 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 56D70BD2FA4 for ; Fri, 9 Sep 2016 13:11:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wam@hiwaay.net) Received: from fly.hiwaay.net (fly.hiwaay.net [216.180.54.1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 282A3F75 for ; Fri, 9 Sep 2016 13:11:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wam@hiwaay.net) Received: from kabini1.local (dynamic-216-186-209-65.knology.net [216.186.209.65] (may be forged)) (authenticated bits=0) by fly.hiwaay.net (8.13.8/8.13.8/fly) with ESMTP id u89D94S8002816 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NO) for ; Fri, 9 Sep 2016 08:09:05 -0500 Subject: Re: "gpart add" falsely claiming "No space left on device" References: <57ce6e64.EITkODjuwy6pZ4L+%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <57cf9b95.Zj/JGHeshaKL6Zr5%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <57d0f29b.3QNvCze7LJDzs0SU%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <86wpimm6om.fsf@WorkBox.Home> <57d276f6.CwaoGNki0kQYiZns%perryh@pluto.rain.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: "William A. Mahaffey III" Message-ID: <4f5b6907-45b3-c107-ed78-547b60781bec@hiwaay.net> Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2016 08:14:34 -0453.75 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.2.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <57d276f6.CwaoGNki0kQYiZns%perryh@pluto.rain.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2016 13:11:26 -0000 On 09/09/16 03:53, Perry Hutchison wrote: > "Brandon J. Wandersee" wrote: >> Perry Hutchison writes: >>> Warren Block wrote: >>>> What does the man page need? >>> For starters, default values for -b, -s, -t, and -i in "gpart add". >>> (I guess -i defaults to "lowest not currently in use", but what about >>> the others?) >> The defaults are exactly what you'd expect them to be. '-b' defaults >> to the start of the disk. > That would explain why my first attempt failed, since that default > is useful only if no partitions are already defined. > > Other reasonable defaults would be the start of the first (lowest > addressed), last (highest addressed), or largest free area. In any > event, the man page ought to say what the default is. > >> '-i' defaults to the lowest available integer. > as I suspected > >> '-s' defaults to everything available. > "available" on the entire disk (as if no partitions were defined), > the first free block, or the largest free block? (One hopes, not > the sum of all free blocks :) Again, the man page should say! > >> '-t' default to nothing, >> because it would be senseless to assume the type of a partition; >> gpart(8) will exit with an error if you don't provide it. > ... which _could_ be implied by its not being bracketed in the usage > section, if not for the fact that -b and -s (which apparently do > have defaults, even though the man page does not say what they are) > are not bracketed either. > >>> List of what-all "attributes" can be set and what they do. >> See "ATTRIBUTES." > There's no such section in the gpart(8) man page I'm looking at (on > FreeBSD 8.1). Aaaaaaahhhhhh :-). Look at the online man pages, either on FreeBSD site if they are there (I don't know) or type 'man gpart' in your search bar & it will turn some up .... > >>> Explanation of when one would use -b vs. -p in "gpart bootcode" >>> since they are apparently different ways of specifying where the >>> bootcode comes from (but then your example uses both?) >> '-b' and '-p' specify different values. '-b' specifies what is written; >> '-p' specifies how and where. How they're used depends on your partition >> scheme and motherboard. See "BOOTSTRAPPING." > There's no BOOTSTRAPPING section in this gpart(8) man page, either. > >>> Description of how to show the current state of the provider vs what >>> it would look like if pending changes were committed. >> I don't know if this is possible. I believe it's assumed that the >> user/administrator has---or at least *should* have---a good idea >> of what state the disk is in before they start messing with the >> existing (presumably good) partition table. > Seems to me it kind of defeats the purpose of "pending" changes, if > I can't say "show me what would change if I committed this set" -- > the same general idea as doing > :w !diff % - > in vi before saving the file. > >>> I suppose there must be some reason for leaving those >>> 3.0k and 492k free spaces around gpboot, but it isn't obvious. >> Partition alignment. > Alignment to 4k makes sense if the physical sector size is 4k (as > is often the case with newer disk drives) -- but 1M? Seems a bit > much, which is why it would be useful for that page to include a > more detailed explanation. > > Getting back to the original inquiry, I'm still mystified as to > why gpart won't create a partition in the space that it reports > as being free. Does anyone have a clue what is going on, or how > to find out? > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > See above .... -- William A. Mahaffey III ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "The M1 Garand is without doubt the finest implement of war ever devised by man." -- Gen. George S. Patton Jr.