Re: [PATCH] Re: msdos/vfat defaults are annoying

From: Nuno Monteiro
Date: Mon Feb 07 2005 - 09:34:14 EST



On 2005.02.07 08:47, Pozsár Balázs wrote:
On Mon, Feb 07, 2005 at 02:48:00AM +0000, Nuno Monteiro wrote:
>

But the contents of /proc/filesystems comes from the kernel. And the
order of filesystems comes from the link order.


Yes, but /proc/filesystems is only processed after two other checks have failed first: specifying a filesystem type (-t), and reading /etc/ filesystems. Relying on mount to do the guesswork is asking for trouble if you realy value your data. And /etc/filesystems is the mechanism mount (8) has in place to change the probe order, in case you really want that. This is entirely a userspace problem, the kernel shouldn't have anything to do with it.

But, anyway, for the sake of argument let's suppose link order is effectively changed. You just effectively broke people's working setups, because like you want to rely on fs/ link order to mount your vfats as vfat and not as msdos, there's people out there relying on that (broken) assumption to have their msdos filesystems mounted as msdos. Now, with the new link order, they'll be mounted as vfat, and pop-goes-the-weasel. Tomorrow, someone unhappy that their msdos fs is now mounted as vfat will send a patch changing it back, thus breaking vfats. Rinse, repeat. ;-)

See? This is just wrong. This is why mount(8) has a mechanism to change the probe order. Everybody's happy that way, and no one has to rely on the broken assumption that the kernel knows how you want your filesystems mounted.

So, to sum things up: this is entirely an userspace problem. Yours just appears to be in need of fixing or tuning.



Regards,

Nuno
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