From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 26 23:14:34 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A1F0716A420 for ; Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:14:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from pauls@utdallas.edu) Received: from smtp3.utdallas.edu (smtp3.utdallas.edu [129.110.10.49]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 87CC713C442 for ; Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:14:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from pauls@utdallas.edu) Received: from [192.168.2.102] (unknown [24.175.90.48]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp3.utdallas.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3910654F2 for ; Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:14:33 -0600 (CST) Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:14:31 -0600 From: Paul Schmehl To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <3A8ACE339481E6EDC53CDAFF@paul-schmehls-powerbook59.local> In-Reply-To: <20071226153541.S88508@wonkity.com> References: <200712212341.44308@aldan> <200712221313.lBMDDx5M036478@lava.sentex.ca> <200712260038.11546@aldan> <20071226062508.GA85141@parts-unknown.org> <2C4BA76BE60FC029360155FE@paul-schmehls-powerbook59.local> <20071226153541.S88508@wonkity.com> X-Mailer: Mulberry/4.0.8 (Mac OS X) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Subject: Re: usb/umass, devfs: this sucks X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:14:34 -0000 --On December 26, 2007 3:45:15 PM -0700 Warren Block wrote: > > Well, me too, and a USB scanner which works well. But I understand the > frustration. > As do I. > Lately, I was trying to use a card reader with a too-long USB cable. Not > only did that not work, but it could slow the system down to nothing or > panic it. Fixed with a powered hub... > I have encountered numerous problems with USB on Windows as well. Some devices only work when plugged directly in to a port on the box. Some are perfectly happy to share a hub with others. So I don't think *all* of the problems are OS-related. > It seems like we need another kind of storage, something that is known > to be only mostly data-safe. If the system would gracefully handle > unexpected media removals, that would be nice. Not everything is a > trustworthy hard drive. > > The user ought to be able to tell the system "Yes, da0s1 is an msdos > filesystem which I'm going to be yanking out at unexpected times. Yes, > I know it might lose some data, but at least figure things out and don't > panic." > I absolutely agree with this. At a minimum it should be possible to forcibly umount a device that you removed after forgetting to umount it first. If I had the first clue about the code, I'd submit a patch. Paul Schmehl (pauls@utdallas.edu) Senior Information Security Analyst The University of Texas at Dallas http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/