Gentoo Archives: gentoo-desktop

From: Chris Barker <Chris.Barker@××××.gov>
To: gentoo-desktop@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-desktop] udev, fstab, and fsck at boot.
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:47:31
Message-Id: 419E4DD8.10101@noaa.gov
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-desktop] udev, fstab, and fsck at boot. by Drake Wyrm
1 Drake Wyrm wrote:
2
3 > I rather have to disagree. *.example files and other
4 > documentation-related goodies in my /etc directory annoy me, but a
5 > well-commented config file with some reasonable defaults is a dream to
6 > work with.
7
8 exactly
9
10 > A few interesting *.example files under /usr/share/doc would
11 > be spiffy.
12
13 Examples, in a non-annoying place, are always good.
14
15 > I know every once in a while you get complaints from a user who
16 > inattentively clobbered something vital. Just remember that the ones you
17 > notice are the screaming minority.
18
19 Being the user who "inattentively clobbered something vital", and then
20 started this thread, I can say:
21
22 1) I'm a newbie at gentoo and udev (as is everyone), but not a Linux
23 newbie. I've been hand editing my fstab on various distributions for
24 over ten years.
25
26 2) If I made this mistake, probably someone else has or will too.
27
28 So, perhaps it's useful to know why I made the mistake (by the way, I
29 did keep my old fstab around, so it was easy to put back, and the reason
30 I got confused was that the system worked fine with the borked fstab,
31 except for errors trying to run fschk on boot. It's still a mystery to
32 me how the system ran with that fstab!)
33
34 Anyway, the reason I got confused was that the fstab that came with the
35 udev package had "BOOT", "ROOT", and "SWAP" in it with NO explanation
36 that those were placeholders. They looked to me like they might be magic
37 names that udev figured out for you. The fact that my system worked
38 reinforced this idea. So:
39
40 if there were a single, simple comment it that file, I would not have
41 made the mistake. Something like:
42
43 # This is a template of an example fstab file. Replace "BOOT", "ROOT",
44 # and "SWAP" with the appropriate drive devices for you system, for
45 # example: "/dev/hda3" for the third partition of the first IDE drive.
46
47 Another thought: Is there a way for portage to tell the difference
48 between an install and an upgrade? and if an upgrade, what version is
49 being upgraded from? In an upgrade, there is no need install a new
50 config file unless the features or syntax of that config file has
51 changed. In this case, I can think of no reason that I would ever have
52 needed a new fstab after upgrading udev, and a BIG reason to keep the
53 old one. It would be nice of portage could figure this out for me and
54 not make me figure it out myself. Indeed, if there has been a change in
55 features or syntax, I'd love to know what those changes are, in some
56 easy to access place.
57
58 -Chris
59
60 --
61 Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
62 Oceanographer
63
64 NOAA/OR&R/HAZMAT (206) 526-6959 voice
65 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax
66 Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception
67
68 Chris.Barker@××××.gov
69
70 --
71 gentoo-desktop@g.o mailing list

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-desktop] udev, fstab, and fsck at boot. Paul de Vrieze <pauldv@g.o>
Re: [gentoo-desktop] udev, fstab, and fsck at boot. Chris Gianelloni <wolf31o2@g.o>