Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Wednesday 23 April 2008, Neil Bothwick wrote: On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:07:02 +0100, Neil Bothwick wrote: So, mkreiserfs --label My_Home /dev/hda5 will not wipe out my partition, right? I don't want to cause unnecessary harm to my machine . . . Of course it will wipe the partition, that's what mkreiserfs does. Reading that back, it seems a little brusque (a polite word for arsey). Sorry if anyone else took it that way, it wasn't intended. No problem, I am adequately thick skinned to not have taken it personally in the unlikely event that it were so intended - we'll you got to be to work here . . . :-)) Reiserfstune it is then - I was supposed to know that but when you are suddenly threatened with redundancy it all gets a bit blurry. Thanks guys. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Tuesday 22 April 2008, Mick wrote: On Monday 21 April 2008, Mark Knecht wrote: On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 2:22 PM, Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:41:58 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: The other possible way would be to give your devices unique names, either via udev or by using LVM. Advantage over UUIDs: much easier to read. Or you could use filesystem labels. I've used filesystem labels for a long time and generally it works really well. Only problem I've had is my Dad's machine has a Maxtor 1-touch 1394 drive. It seems that often it doesn't get recognized by the 1394 subsystem fast enough to satisfy whatever requirements the Gentoo scripts have for the label being readable so it doesn't reliably get recognized every time. I have thought about using labels, but never really ventured into it (I think I tried it once on a server). Can I do it retrospectively on ext2, reiserfs and xfs, or is it going to erase the contents of the partition? No, it's safe. The various file system tools have a *label* or *tune* tool to add a label to the fs metadata. Then simply update fstab. The fun starts in finding the tool for your filesystems. ext2/3 is easy - it's e2label. ReiserFS is a little more obscure :-) Finding this amazing Reiser tool is left as an exercise for the reader (i.e. I can never remember what it is myself and am too damn lazy to go and look right now) Personally, I prefer labels over other disk id methods. I get to choose the label myself and can ensure they are unique in my world (but maybe not in the universe like UUIDs are). If I have to mkfs a volume from scratch for some reason, it's easier for me to to re-use the same label than to re-use or copy-paste those long UUID strings -- Alan McKinnon alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:40 AM, Alan McKinnon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tuesday 22 April 2008, Mick wrote: On Monday 21 April 2008, Mark Knecht wrote: On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 2:22 PM, Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:41:58 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: The other possible way would be to give your devices unique names, either via udev or by using LVM. Advantage over UUIDs: much easier to read. Or you could use filesystem labels. I've used filesystem labels for a long time and generally it works really well. Only problem I've had is my Dad's machine has a Maxtor 1-touch 1394 drive. It seems that often it doesn't get recognized by the 1394 subsystem fast enough to satisfy whatever requirements the Gentoo scripts have for the label being readable so it doesn't reliably get recognized every time. I have thought about using labels, but never really ventured into it (I think I tried it once on a server). Can I do it retrospectively on ext2, reiserfs and xfs, or is it going to erase the contents of the partition? No, it's safe. The various file system tools have a *label* or *tune* tool to add a label to the fs metadata. Then simply update fstab. The fun starts in finding the tool for your filesystems. ext2/3 is easy - it's e2label. ReiserFS is a little more obscure :-) Finding this amazing Reiser tool is left as an exercise for the reader (i.e. I can never remember what it is myself and am too damn lazy to go and look right now) Personally, I prefer labels over other disk id methods. I get to choose the label myself and can ensure they are unique in my world (but maybe not in the universe like UUIDs are). If I have to mkfs a volume from scratch for some reason, it's easier for me to to re-use the same label than to re-use or copy-paste those long UUID strings -- Alan McKinnon alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com I like labels also. I've had a couple of cases where I've taken a drive out of an old system but kept the drive around. Later I put the drive in a 1394 drive case.I checked the drive label and immediately knew it was a drive with ripped music, sessions I've recorded in Ardour, etc. Labels are human readable and I tend to make them quite descriptive. -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Wednesday 23 April 2008, Mark Knecht wrote: On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:40 AM, Alan McKinnon Personally, I prefer labels over other disk id methods. I get to choose the label myself and can ensure they are unique in my world (but maybe not in the universe like UUIDs are). If I have to mkfs a volume from scratch for some reason, it's easier for me to to re-use the same label than to re-use or copy-paste those long UUID strings I like labels also. I've had a couple of cases where I've taken a drive out of an old system but kept the drive around. Later I put the drive in a 1394 drive case.I checked the drive label and immediately knew it was a drive with ripped music, sessions I've recorded in Ardour, etc. Labels are human readable and I tend to make them quite descriptive. Just to expand a bit: UUIDs are guaranteed to be unique in the whole world, that's why distro installers use them - you can issue guarantees that the installer will get it right. LABELs have no such guarantee and installers need the user to be clued up enough to pick decent ones. As we all know, average users often aren't up to that. The majority of Ubuntu's target market (just to pick a random example) certainly aren't. So the installer is between a rock and a hard place - use the method guaranteed to work today, but is not really human-readable, or use a lesser method with a few caveats (like a trained user). It's the old story all over again - use the one that works best for you as long as you know enough to be able to decide -- Alan McKinnon alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Wednesday 23 April 2008, Mark Knecht wrote: Yep. I use e2label. Works fine with ext2 and ext3 partitions. One command to read the label, another to write it. Easy. So, mkreiserfs --label My_Home /dev/hda5 will not wipe out my partition, right? I don't want to cause unnecessary harm to my machine . . . -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Wednesday 23 April 2008, Mick wrote: On Wednesday 23 April 2008, Mark Knecht wrote: Yep. I use e2label. Works fine with ext2 and ext3 partitions. One command to read the label, another to write it. Easy. So, mkreiserfs --label My_Home /dev/hda5 will not wipe out my partition, right? I don't want to cause unnecessary harm to my machine . . . mkreiserfs will in all likely-hood wipe out the file system on that partition, as it's job is to make filesystems. The label is a nice side-effect that it can do while making an fs You want reiserfstune -- Alan McKinnon alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:25:11 +0100, Mick wrote: So, mkreiserfs --label My_Home /dev/hda5 will not wipe out my partition, right? I don't want to cause unnecessary harm to my machine . . . Of course it will wipe the partition, that's what mkreiserfs does. The --label option simply adds a label to your freshly wiped partition :( To alter an existing filesystem, use reiserfstune. -- Neil Bothwick Grow your own dope, plant a politician! signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:07:02 +0100, Neil Bothwick wrote: So, mkreiserfs --label My_Home /dev/hda5 will not wipe out my partition, right? I don't want to cause unnecessary harm to my machine . . . Of course it will wipe the partition, that's what mkreiserfs does. Reading that back, it seems a little brusque (a polite word for arsey). Sorry if anyone else took it that way, it wasn't intended. -- Neil Bothwick OS/2 = Half an Operating System signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Monday 21 April 2008, Mark Knecht wrote: On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 2:22 PM, Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:41:58 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: The other possible way would be to give your devices unique names, either via udev or by using LVM. Advantage over UUIDs: much easier to read. Or you could use filesystem labels. I've used filesystem labels for a long time and generally it works really well. Only problem I've had is my Dad's machine has a Maxtor 1-touch 1394 drive. It seems that often it doesn't get recognized by the 1394 subsystem fast enough to satisfy whatever requirements the Gentoo scripts have for the label being readable so it doesn't reliably get recognized every time. I have thought about using labels, but never really ventured into it (I think I tried it once on a server). Can I do it retrospectively on ext2, reiserfs and xfs, or is it going to erase the contents of the partition? -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:43:12 +0100, Mick wrote: I have thought about using labels, but never really ventured into it (I think I tried it once on a server). Can I do it retrospectively on ext2, reiserfs and xfs, or is it going to erase the contents of the partition? You can, see the man pages for the various filesystem tools, e.g. tune2fs -L ROOT /dev/sda5 -- Neil Bothwick Why is the word abbreviation so long? signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 2:43 PM, Mick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Monday 21 April 2008, Mark Knecht wrote: On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 2:22 PM, Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:41:58 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: The other possible way would be to give your devices unique names, either via udev or by using LVM. Advantage over UUIDs: much easier to read. Or you could use filesystem labels. I've used filesystem labels for a long time and generally it works really well. Only problem I've had is my Dad's machine has a Maxtor 1-touch 1394 drive. It seems that often it doesn't get recognized by the 1394 subsystem fast enough to satisfy whatever requirements the Gentoo scripts have for the label being readable so it doesn't reliably get recognized every time. I have thought about using labels, but never really ventured into it (I think I tried it once on a server). Can I do it retrospectively on ext2, reiserfs and xfs, or is it going to erase the contents of the partition? -- Regards, Mick Yep. I use e2label. Works fine with ext2 and ext3 partitions. One command to read the label, another to write it. Easy. - Mark -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
Am Montag, den 21.04.2008, 16:37 +0200 schrieb Anthony E. Caudel: I have noticed in some distros (namely Ubuntu) that the fstab uses UUID's rather than /dev references. Is this a better way? Yes. Does it eliminate the problem of /dev references changing when another drive, i.e., an external USB drive, is plugged in? Yes. The /dev references may change but the UUID's in fstab wouldn't, would they? Correct. The other possible way would be to give your devices unique names, either via udev or by using LVM. Advantage over UUIDs: much easier to read. Bye... Dirk signature.asc Description: Dies ist ein digital signierter Nachrichtenteil
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:41:58 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: The other possible way would be to give your devices unique names, either via udev or by using LVM. Advantage over UUIDs: much easier to read. Or you could use filesystem labels. -- Neil Bothwick Electricians DO IT until it Hz... signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Question re: UUID
On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 2:22 PM, Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:41:58 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: The other possible way would be to give your devices unique names, either via udev or by using LVM. Advantage over UUIDs: much easier to read. Or you could use filesystem labels. I've used filesystem labels for a long time and generally it works really well. Only problem I've had is my Dad's machine has a Maxtor 1-touch 1394 drive. It seems that often it doesn't get recognized by the 1394 subsystem fast enough to satisfy whatever requirements the Gentoo scripts have for the label being readable so it doesn't reliably get recognized every time. Cheers, Mark -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
