New option for newfs(3) to make life with GEOM easier

[Yar Tikhiy]

On Sat, Sep 01, 2007 at 08:13:07AM +0000, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
> In message <20070901074803.GM85633 at comp.chem.msu.su>, Yar Tikhiy writes:
> >Hi all,
> >
> >With some geom(4) modules saving their metadata in the last sectors
> >of block devices such as disks and partitions, 
> 
> 1.  If those geom modules do not reduce their providers to prevent
> this metadata from being overwritten, they are buggy.

In some scenarios, it can be desirable to newfs first, geom later.

> 2.  Why not simply allow the -s argument to newfs to be negative so
>     "-s -200" means "reserve 200 sectors" ?

A negative argument to -s has been invalid till now, so we propose
a new option for people to express their intentions explicitly.
Personally, I don't mind the "-s -200" syntax, but many people
consider overloaded arguments unintuitive and error-prone.

-- 
Yar