[CFC/CFT] large changes in the loader(8) code

[Marcel Moolenaar]

On Jun 26, 2012, at 9:50 PM, Andrey V. Elsukov wrote:

> If the primary GPT is corrupt, software must check the last LBA of the device to see if it has a
> valid GPT Header and point to a valid GPT Partition Entry Array."
> 
> For the FreeBSD an each GEOM provider can be treated as disk device.
> So, i don't see anything criminal if we will add some quirks in the our loader
> for the better supporting of our technologies.

You can't just re-interpret standards to match a context you know very well
isn't applicable and consequently redefine what the word "device" means.
You're on a slippery slope and while you may not see it as a problem, you
do make it a problem for FreeBSD users. It's our users we should be keeping
in mind when we solve problems.

> If a user wants modify GPT in the disk editor from the another OS,
> he can do it, and it should work. The result depends only from the partition editor,
> it might overwrite the last sector and might don't.

Right. Another happy user that sees his/her FreeBSD installation destroyed
or degraded (no mirroring, warning messages about corrupted GPT, etc) for
no apparent reason and without any kind of warning that what he/she is doing
is potentially harmful... That's the spirit!

-- 
Marcel Moolenaar
marcel at xcllnt.net