This patchset teaches the kernel about hybrid master boot records (MBRs), one of the most common issues with GUID partition tables, as a workaround to layout disk partitions to be compatible with both EFI and legacy MBR based systems. Except for adding more pmbr checks, to better comply with the UEFI/GPT specs, the functionality is left unchanged - we only inform (through debug) the user about the used MBR scheme. While it is true that these restrictions can be bypassed when forcing gpt, this is not the correct or default way of doing things, complicating users furthermore. More details are in the individual patches.
Patches 1-5 enables the kernel to inform the user about the mbr scheme being used. They also include more protective mbr checks to be more UEFI compliant - we currently have a very open and generic gpt implementation that can cause non-GPT disks to be recognized/probed as GPT. Patch 6 adds a missing check when verifying the header integrity. Patches 7 & 8 are trivial cleanups. All changes were tested on a macbook pro containing a hybrid mbr and a large EFI based HP server with a standard protective mbr. Thanks! Davidlohr Bueso (8): partitions/efi: use lba-aware partition records partitions/efi: check pmbr record's starting lba partitions/efi: do not require gpt partition to begin at sector 1 partitions/efi: detect hybrid MBRs partitions/efi: account for pmbr size in lba partitions/efi: compare first and last usable LBAs partitions/efi: delete annoying emacs style comments partitions/efi: some style cleanups block/partitions/efi.c | 128 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------- block/partitions/efi.h | 38 +++++++-------- 2 files changed, 108 insertions(+), 58 deletions(-) -- 1.7.11.7 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
