Re: PR/51230 CVS commit: src/sbin/gpt

[John Nemeth <jnemeth%cue.bc.ca@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR bin/51230; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: John Nemeth <jnemeth%cue.bc.ca@localhost>
To: gnats-bugs%NetBSD.org@localhost, gnats-admin%netbsd.org@localhost, netbsd-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost,
        Hauke Fath <hf%spg.tu-darmstadt.de@localhost>
Cc: 
Subject: Re: PR/51230 CVS commit: src/sbin/gpt
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2016 03:39:56 -0700

 On Jun 10,  8:30am, Hauke Fath wrote:
 } The following reply was made to PR bin/51230; it has been noted by GNATS.
 } 
 } From: Hauke Fath <hf%spg.tu-darmstadt.de@localhost>
 } Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2016 10:28:23 +0200
 } 
 }  On Thu,  9 Jun 2016 21:15:00 +0000 (UTC), Robert Elz wrote:
 }  >  Actually, when I really read the code, instead of just guessing, I do
 }  >  see how that works ... if the command name is "gpt" the old syntax applies
 }  >  (gpt [globalopts] sub-cmd [cmd-opts] device) and if the name is anything
 }  >  else (the makefile looks as if it is intended to be gptlabel - one day)
 }  >  then the device moves forward (gptlabel [globalopts] device sub-cmd
 }  > [cmd-opts])
 }  
 }  ... sneaky!
 }  
 }  I've always found the 'gpt <cmd> <disk>' vs. 'dkctl <disk> <cmd>'
 }  annoying, and always have to look up which is which. The two tools'
 }  interfaces should be synced better.
 
      It was originally 'gpt <cmd> <disk>...', i.e. you could supply
 multiple <disk> and it would perform <cmd> on all of them.  This
 functionaliy was of limited use and was eliminated when Christos
 did a major rework of the way gpt(8) parses its options.
 
      gpt(8) was originally imported from FreeBSD with very minimal
 change ('gpt migrate' wasn't even capable of handling NetBSD disks
 for the first seven years it was in NetBSD).  In the mean time,
 FreeBSD ditched it and replaced it with 'gpart' which is just a
 thin wrapper around syscalls (i.e. in FreeBSD the kernel does all
 the work of making changes to all types of disk partitioning schemes
 now).  However, in NetBSD, gpt(8) has seen several overhauls,
 including adding all the functionality that FreeBSD's gpart has
 and then some.
 
      Unfortunately, it is too late to make gpt(8) work like dkctl,
 etc., since gpt(8) has been a part of NetBSD for almost ten years
 (it was imported on Oct. 15th, 2006).  One option, which Robert
 noted, would be to have a link, called 'gptlabel' which would behave
 similiar to how 'dkctl' does.
 
 }-- End of excerpt from Hauke Fath