The release of 0.6 reminded me that I had some changes to mdctl-0.5 I hadn't sent on to the list. I added three options to mdctl which I've found to be handy. I'm not claiming they will be useful to others, or that they're a good idea to add to mdctl. YMMV. The first is --analyze or -Z. It's a cross between --detail and --examine (from which the code is taken, of course). Given a device, it tries to figure out the status of the RAID it is a part of, and its state within the RAID, and condense it to a terse one line output. I use it for scripting. The second is --assemble-using or -U. It's an --assemble command for the lazy. Given a device, it pulls the UUID off it and then uses it for the --assemble command. I basically use this to loop through the devices in mdctl.conf and start the arrays connected with them automatically at startup time. I don't have to keep track of the UUIDs this way. Of course, starting up all the RAIDs connnected with the devices in mdctl.conf makes it tough to keep a RAID from starting. So the third is --destroywithextremeprejudice (no short option for this one). All it does is zero out the RAID superblock on a device. It's not smart at all (for instance, it should probably make sure the RAID isn't active before it zeroes it...). But it is handy for killing stopped RAIDs :->. I never got around to adding the options to the usage message, let alone modifying the man page. The changes are attached to this message in .patch format. I've enjoyed using mdctl (much better than raidtools IMO). Thanks Neil! Dale Stephenson steph@snapserver.com
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