Re: 2.5.28 and partitions

Linus Torvalds
2002-07-25T05:11:08Z

On Thu, 25 Jul 2002, Anton Altaparmakov wrote:
>
> >u64 for sector_t doesn't change anything for 64bit boxen that might be
> >interested in really large disks and screws 32bit ones that shouldn't
> >have to pay for that...
>
> True. That's why sector_t should be a compile time option in the kernel
> "Enable large device support > 2TiB: Y/N". Then I am happy and loads of
> other people because we can use large raid arrays without having to buy the
> latest expensive system and other people are happy for having faster 32-bit
> code... Surely we can write robust enough code which will work with either
> sector_t size...

Careful. One issue is user-level interfaces to the kernel. I would suggest
any user level interface should use u64, not "sector_t". So that there is
zero confusion. Clearly 64-bit sector numbers will be/are really close to
being an issue for some people.

Linus