Subject: Partman

From: Roland Fritz <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 10:28:01 +0200

Hi all!

I was looking for !Partman on th ftp and only found partman.nowrite.arc
Is there a writing !Partman or do I have to use my PC for partitioning :-)

Roland.

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Roland Fritz                            [email-masked]

Magdeburger Ring 29
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Germany

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From: Phil Norman <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 10:31:48 +0100 (BST)

> Is there a writing !Partman or do I have to use my PC for partitioning :-)

Yep, the no-write partman would be a testing version which has writing
disabled in case anything goes horribly wrong.  There are working
read/write versions available from the armlinux ftp site:

ftp.arm.uk.linux.org/pub/armlinux/distrib/riscos

You'll find, in there, a whole set of different partman applications.
It's probably best to get the latest, although occasionally earlier
versions work where newer ones do not.  This is odd and I've no idea why
it is the case.

Don't use a PC to partition your HD unless it's not going to have a
FileCore partition on it at all.  Your average PC won't understand Acorn's
'partitioning system' (ahem ahem) so you'll certainly need PartMan.
PartMan is nice anyway.

-- 
Rule of programming #5: If a C program gives more than 50 compiler
        errors, you've missed out a semicolon.

Phil Norman, mailing from Oregan Networks.
email:	[email-masked]
URL:	http://newton.ex.ac.uk/general/ug/norman

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From: Stefan Hanske <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 16:07:59 +0200 (METDST)

> Is there a writing !Partman or do I have to use my PC for partitioning :-)

There certainly *is* a writing partman. I don't know exactly where it is
but it may be inside the RedHat directory somewhere.

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From: Roland Fritz <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 21:36:38 +0200

> but it may be inside the RedHat directory somewhere.

I found out the problem isn't writing the partition table but my HD.
There was a FAT partition on it and so a PC partition table. This can't be written :-(
So I formatted it but you can't create linux-only hd with !partman :-(
I had to create a small RiscOS patition (with !ideformat) on it before !partman was able to do his work...
Is this a known 'feature'?

Roland.

Magdeburger Ring 29

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From: Stefan Hanske <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 11:44:20 +0200 (METDST)

> Is this a known 'feature'?

It is always that way. Since the normal ADFS doesn't allow partition 
tables (except the RiscIX ones), the !Linux partition table is put right 
behind the end of the ADFS partition. So in order to create one, there 
has to be an ADFS partition first.

BTW, the linux kernels work with PC-style partition tables. I've got a 
SCSI HD shared between the PC card & Linux with no ADFS partition on it. 
It took a while to get it working (since the ADFS partition wouldn't 
disappear, I had to 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda' it away), but this is 
nothing I would suggest to unexperienced users.

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From: Phil Norman <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 11:29:45 +0100 (BST)

> has to be an ADFS partition first.

Not strictly true.  There are a few entries near the beginning of a
FileCore partition which contain the start cylinder of the next partition
and a number describing the type of that partition.  Anyone can use this
to create a new partition (or in armlinux's case, a new partition table)
after the FileCore partition, not just RiscIX.  RiscBSD does a similar
thing, as does ARMLinux.  Strangely, ARMLinux uses partition number 9,
which is the same (AFAICR) as RiscIX.  A bit odd, I thought.

Unfortunately there is another problem.  FileCore will assume that it is
all-powerful, and the most important thing in the world, and will
therefore assume that if there's no FileCore partition at the start of a
disc, then it hasn't been formatted yet.  Also, it's impossible to access
a disc without using the FileCore disc access calls, and FileCore won't
allow these to work without a FileCore partition.  This is a pain in the
neck.  I have emailed Acorn several times asking them to get their act
together and come up with a decent partition table which everyone can use
(currently many 3rd party companies have their own partition systems since
they see a need for one, especially in the light of the two unix ports),
but Acorn seem unmoved in their stand against partitioning.  I personally
don't see any sense in it, since simply providing support for it wouldn't
be difficult.

Luckily, from what I've heard, at least one 3rd party company is looking
into integrating their partition system with someone else's, so there may
emerge a standard partition system without Acorn's input.  No doubt
they'll be miffed at this, but it's their own fault.

Anyway, I really aught not to rant too much.  If anyone disagrees with my
utter loathing of Acorn's filing system (yes, all of it) just send me an
email and I'll give you a nice big list of all its bad points.  I've found
rather a lot of them.

Cheers,
Phil

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From: Russell King - ARM Linux Admin <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 20:48:02 +0100 (BST)

> which is the same (AFAICR) as RiscIX.  A bit odd, I thought.

They are?  I'll have to thump them next time I see them - number 9 is
*officially* allocated at Acorn to ARM Linux. ;)

> Also, it's impossible to access a disc without using the FileCore disc
> access calls, and FileCore won't allow these to work without a FileCore
> partition.  This is a pain in the neck.  

That's not actually quite true.  Filecore will access a disk without a
filecore partition on it, so long as you give it a filecore disk record
to work with.  It uses the disk record to track the shape of the drive
(important for MFM drives), as well as verifing that you're not trying
to do anything particularly stupid.  If you don't give it a disk record,
and there isn't a recognisable filecore image at the start of a disk, then
filecore will just complain.  (well, I said that it'd verify that you
weren't doing anything stupid, but I /didn't/ say that it'd tell you that
you were).

This is how PartMan is able to access the contents of my 1GB SCSI disk,
which only has a PC partition table on without Filecore complaining.
   _____
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