>> Back a version or two ago, on last close of an sd device, almost all
>> state would be cleared - in particular, on next open the disklabel
>> would be reread.

> If it no longer does this, i'd call that a "serious bug."

I'm quite sure "my" NetBSD/sparc machines don't (don't reread the
label, that is).  I'm sure of this because I normally relabel (and in
particular repartition) my drives on Sun ports with sunlabel, if only
because it has a much nicer user interface to partitioning than
disklabel (in my admittedly possibly biased opinion).

And these days, I find I have to detach and reattach the disk to make
the kernel reread the label when I'm done running sunlabel.

I do have some patches in place, but I don't think any of them bear on
this issue.  Just just out of paranoia, could someone who has a stock
system test it?  It's easy enough, even without sunlabel, on a Sun port
(/sparc or /sun3)....

1) Arrange to have an sd disk around that you're not using for anything
    else.  I'll call it sdN below.

2) Save the previous label sector:
	dd if=/dev/rsdNc bs=512 count=1 of=some.temp.file

3) Change the label with disklabel -e.  Add a partition, delete a
    partition, move some around, whatever.  Something so it's clear
    whether you've got the old label or the new.

4) Put the old label back, on the disk but not in-core:
	dd of=/dev/rsdNc bs=512 count=1 if=some.temp.file

5) Check ("disklabel sdN") to see which label you have.

If it's rereading the label upon first (re)open, the way it used to, it
will do a reread at practically every step of the way; in particular,
between steps 4 and 5, the reread will pick up the changed label.

If you have sunlabel, it's even easier:

1') as (1) above
2') as (2) above
3') change the label with sunlabel (write to disk but not kernel)
4') check with disklabel and see which label you have

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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