RFC: making gpart default

[Peter Wemm]

On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 6:09 AM, Joao Barros <joao.barros at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 4:07 AM, Peter Wemm <peter at wemm.org> wrote:
>> On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Marcel Moolenaar <xcllnt at mac.com> wrote:
>>> All,
>>>
>>> I'd like to switch all architectures to gpart for the reasons given
>>> below. All current partitioning schemes are supported by gpart and
>>> work on all platforms. On top of that, ia64 and powerpc are using
>>> gpart exclusively already.
>> [..]
>>> In short: gpart is the first step towards a unified set of
>>> tools and interfaces and provides the basis for extending
>>> file system related tools by allowing us to attach real
>>> meaning to partition types. With the commit and undo feature,
>>> gpart is ready for use by next generation installers that
>>> allow us to use any partitioning scheme on any platforms.
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>
>> oh my god.  I just tried to use gpart.  This needs some SERIOUS help.
>>
>> First, the 'gpart create' man page doesn't say what "scheme" is.
>
> True.

My gripe was that it just said "this is how you specify the scheme".
What is a scheme?   Is this where you type "guid" or "gpt" or "mbr"?
Is it lowercase or uppercase?  Is it a filename to the backing .so
name?  Is it the numerical index in some array inside the g_part
kernel module?

>> After guessing, I tried:
>>
>> overcee# gpart create -s gpt /dev/twed1
>> gpart: 22 scheme 'gpt'
>>
>> What does that mean?  It turns out that I didn't have GEOM_PART_GPT compiled in.
>
> A recent CURRENT has it by default.

Only in GENERIC.  That didn't help my machine which has been running
and upgraded all the way from freebsd-3.2.  I used to have it turned
on at one point.  The point was that gpart was gave me no clues about
diagnosing the problem.

However, conf/DEFAULTS still has GEOM_BSD and GEOM_MBR in it.  Recall
that this thread is about having g_part take over mbr and bsd, which
means switching tools.  Having tools that give an error message of
"22" isn't going to cut it.

-- 
Peter Wemm - peter at wemm.org; peter at FreeBSD.org; peter at yahoo-inc.com; KI6FJV
"All of this is for nothing if we don't go to the stars" - JMS/B5
"If Java had true garbage collection, most programs would delete
themselves upon execution." -- Robert Sewell