From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 17 09:44:45 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46F73106564A for ; Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:44:45 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tevans.uk@googlemail.com) Received: from mail-vb0-f54.google.com (mail-vb0-f54.google.com [209.85.212.54]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E48028FC15 for ; Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:44:44 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vbmv11 with SMTP id v11so1765165vbm.13 for ; Mon, 17 Sep 2012 02:44:44 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=3B+5VdCCFpgRoQA/3xJboXvFxr48niFeP2drCzDLF6c=; b=BGVKQ9+0FyKddFMuhtulCw9fzKoyuMnfwwrDY6zlhsc9Y26aUXQa/rAzJsXX77hZEo h07GZvEztcCSZkSrAFxCb1xjKIlFpTEO9MYC+rp3S7QNlZnAyO6+dLIxoSUbkJs8twu5 piLSpxEFgxkAMNe0YaUvXw6xI70n2UB0Ln8MqU4SD1AyrEhUO2DLqXD81I9d2tihg1jb eLB2+ng0w5dG9PxUFXEVMu8FPtkYSUPflFb/o5YHnySukyIe1YOtNWmZdmS16dCKYXD2 nEg0w/qmS6Re4lh2/JEcnyDLkL3fJ9vfk6IAnv4iZzkd0OYmYoQb6ZyK3qnABwVMBZBr KEaA== MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.220.107.146 with SMTP id b18mr7022540vcp.48.1347875083964; Mon, 17 Sep 2012 02:44:43 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.58.228.1 with HTTP; Mon, 17 Sep 2012 02:44:43 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <505624A9.7040508@hesiod.org> References: <20120916120041.391C41065680@hub.freebsd.org> <505624A9.7040508@hesiod.org> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:44:43 +0100 Message-ID: From: Tom Evans To: Jeff Anton Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: gpart is junk X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:44:45 -0000 On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 8:12 PM, Jeff Anton wrote: >=E2=80=A6 my point is that all this information needs to be > together in one human and machine readable form. We need to be able to l= ook > at the whole picture of a device and say "that makes sense" then do it. = And > this shouldn't be from some GUI junk either. > In a file, this information can be kept as a reference, as a confirmation > that partitioning hasn't changed unexpectedly, and > modified if needed in a clear manner. > (Sorry to pick at just parts of your email=E2=80=A6) The current GEOM configuration is available from a sysctl in machine readable format - check out kern.geom.confxml. If you are concerned about your partitions changing underneath you, storing and then comparing output from this sysctl gives you a simple way to determine what. A human readable version can be obtained from the gpart tool. IMHO, gpart and GEOM are fantastic. gpart is a much simpler tool to use than fdisk, and fully understands every kind of disk partitioning you can throw at it, whilst fdisk is only a tool for playing with MBR. The gpart man page explains clearly and concisely how to use it. GEOM provides a clear framework that anything can plug in to, from labels to whole disk encryption. Cheers Tom