Re: disklabel(8) allows addressing non-existent space

[Julio Merino <jmmv%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On 1/2/12 9:47 PM, Mouse wrote:
>>> Imho the current way of having to deal with an editor and a
>>> calculator, or the interactive mode [...]
>> Why do you need a calculator?
> 
> Well, I didn't write the double-quoted text above, but, speaking
> personally, I'd want the calculator to do arithmetic like "I want this
> partition to start 2^22 sectors before the start value printed here,
> so...".  I don't have 2^22 memorized, and, while I could work it out
> (hmm, a four times 1048576...41752^H304) and then do the arithmetic in
> my head, I am less likely to make an error doing it with a calculator.
> (Check that number above...okay, _that_'s why I want a calculator!)

Sure.  My question was more rhetoric, like asking why you would need to
calculate things manually when disklabel is already able to perform many
common computations on its own (albeit not in a discoverable manner).

> I'd still rather disklabel had a way to specify things like "this
> partition should have this size and should end at the beginning of this
> other partition", since then the chance of error is reduced even
> further.  (Perhaps it can even do that these days.  I don't know; the
> most recent disklabel I've tried to use is 5.1's.)

It can do that, in interactive mode.  Within the editor, you are
restricted to raw numbers AFAIK.

-- 
Julio Merino / @jmmv