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Date:      Mon, 24 Dec 2001 19:03:52 -0800
From:      Jordan Hubbard <jkh@winston.freebsd.org>
To:        Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org>
Cc:        The Anarcat <anarcat@anarcat.dyndns.org>, re@freebsd.org, qa@freebsd.org, jkh@freebsd.org, phk@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: regression tests for possible sysctl kern.disks/libdisk changes/mfc 
Message-ID:  <40166.1009249432@winston.freebsd.org>
In-Reply-To: Message from Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org>  of "Sun, 23 Dec 2001 18:25:48 EST." <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1011223181806.8511w-100000@fledge.watson.org> 

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1. Nothing "broke", it simply confused the users significantly
   that "da0" used to be the very first item in the disk selection
   menu and then suddenly got shuffled to a different location in
   that menu, rendering their muscle memory for that menu obsolete.

2. The downsides are mostly that the code in libdisk doesn't get
   to benefit from a cleaner way of getting disk info (the sysctl).

3. The risks I can see is that the menu goes back to exhibiting the
   funky behavior of before, but that's probably unlikely.

- Jordan


> Jordan,
> 
> Can you clarify a couple of things for me?
> 
> (1) What exactly broke in sysinstall due to not having the names sorted?
>     Was it just a slight visual glitch, or were there fairly material
>     problems? 
> 
> (2) What are the downsides to not merging this feature: do we lose the
>     ability to do something that we might otherwise have?  Do things look
>     better?
> 
> (3) What are the risks?  What can possibly go wrong? (sysinstall might
>     multiply list devices, might not list some devices, might offer
>     devices inappropriate to install on, ... 
> 
> I'm cerainly not opposed to this type of change, but if there are
> observable risks with no real payoff, I'm not sure it's worth those risks. 
> If there's little risk, and lots of payoff, then that is different, of
> course :-).
> 
> Robert N M Watson             FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Project
> robert@fledge.watson.org      NAI Labs, Safeport Network Services
> 
> On Sun, 23 Dec 2001, The Anarcat wrote:
> 
> > Hi.
> > 
> > A recent commit to -current was done to re-enable the use of sysctl
> > kern.disks by sorting its output in libdisk.
> > 
> > This might break sysinstall as it is why the disabling was done in the
> > first place.
> > 
> > I have mildly tested sysinstall with the -stable patches, and it seems
> > to order the disks properly. I haven't tested an install or real-life
> > partitioning.
> > 
> > Those wanting to do so need to apply the attached patch and rebuild
> > libdisk + sysinstall:
> > 
> > # cd /usr/src/lib/libdisk
> > # patch < patch
> > # make clean all install
> > # cd /usr/src/release/sysinstall
> > # make clean all install
> > # /stand/sysinstall
> > 
> > Since I am not aware of what precisely the original bugs were, I cannot
> > fully test this.
> > 
> > Also, I won't be available to test this in the following few days. I
> > will be back on the 27th and might take my mail sporadically in between.
> > I will stay for a few days and leave again until the 2nd, so I will be
> > available for real testing only then.
> > 
> > Thanks for your attention,
> > 
> > A.
> > 
> > 
> 


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