Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 14:51:16 -0800 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: phk@freebsd.org Cc: wgrim@siue.edu, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Network block device. Message-ID: <3E39AC64.5F0B763E@mindspring.com> References: <18887.1043939253@critter.freebsd.dk>
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In message <1043939002.3e393ebaaf94a@webmail1.isg.siue.edu>, wgrim@siue.edu writes: > I haven't been following this thread too closely, but I was hoping you could > clarify something for me. For what does GEOM mean/stand? GEOM is not an acronym, even though the last three letters are uppercase, as they would be with an acronym, like "LASER" or "RADAR", or a trademark, like "UNIX"), and technically, it should be written "Geom", instead. GEOM is the geometry manager that sits on top of the disk I/O subsystem. It's what handles partitions, slices, and other abstractions of the physical devices. In theory, it should be where CCD and other things, like RaidFrame and Vinum, perform volume management. It's very similar to what I suggested be done back in 1995/1996, except that I also suggested that the writing/removal of things like partition tables, disklabels, etc., take place via an ioctl to the device manager, and that a "partition type iterator" be created, so that you could ask the kernel what was supported, and get some metadata back from it. If that were done, then you would be able to replace all the disklabel, parted, and other programs with a single program that operated on metadata, and would not need modification as new GEOM modules were created. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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