From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Roe Peterson Subject: Re: PATCH - change to blkdev->queue calling triggers BUG in md.c Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 09:27:41 -0600 Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org Message-ID: <3D74D4ED.FFA5539F@liveglobalbid.com> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: To: linux-raid@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-raid.ids I'm a newbie to the list (not unix, though :-), but anyhow... Andries.Brouwer@cwi.nl wrote: > > Another argument is that nobody knows whether there is > > a partition table. (ZIP: "large floppy" vs "removable disk") > > Another argument is that tricky things happen with disk managers. > > And none of these work any better in user space. > > Well, in fact they do. > > The user knows whether she treats her ZIP like a removable disk > or like a big floppy, that is, whether she should ask or refrain > from asking to read the pt. "The User Knows"? My experience with the vast bulk of users is that the only thing you can count on is that they _don't_ know. Much of anything at all, in fact. Depending on an luser to know how her zip disk is configured is _much_ less reliable than some minor kernel heuristic (translate: guesswork).