On Fri, Jan 12, 2001 at 08:35:53AM +0200, Teemu Rinta-aho wrote:

> I am not a BSD file system expert, but I think the disklabel 'd'
> represents the "whole disk", and 'a' represents the first partition on
> the disk. I guess with a CD-ROM you just want to refer to the whole
> disk.

from the disklabel(8) man page:

BUGS
     If the disk partition is not specified in the disk name (i.e.
     ``xy0'' instead of ``/dev/rxy0c''), disklabel will construct the
     full pathname of the disk and use the ``a'' partition on the tahoe,
     the ``d'' partition on i386 or hpcmips or arc, and the ``c''
     partition on all others.

why are tahoe, i386, hpcmips, and arc different?  (and what the heck is
a tahoe?  or is the man page referring to BSD 4.4 tahoe?)

-- 
  Aaron J. Grier | "Not your ordinary poofy goof." | agrier@poofygoof.com
  "Being wet and standing in a salted bath while rinsing the inside of
   your hairdryer with a silver spoon is a very stupid thing to do."
      -- Dave Krooshof