Currently fdisk does not ask which partition will be deleted if there is only
one partition which could be selected. This means that when using
the 'd'elete function, you may or may not be prompted for the partition to
delete, depending on how many partitions there are on the disk. (The same
applies to the 't'ype command, and the selection of the final cylinder when
there is only one cylinder available for partitioning).
This is meant to aid interactive use, but in practice it causes mistakes (I've
set the type of partition 1 to 1 many times). This means that manipulating
the first partition of a device through fdisk is unnecessarily tricky
(features are later known as bugs).
I propose to remove the default selection, and explicitly prompt, except where
there is nothing to do.
Any comments? Is this going to break someone's favourite USB stick formatter?
PROPOSED BEHAVIOUR::
Command (m for help): p
Disk ./hda: 0 MB, 0 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 256 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe2f79aba
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
./hda2 1 123 987966 83 Linux
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 2 <============== new prompt
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris)
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 1
Warning: partition 1 has empty type
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 2 <============== new prompt
Command (m for help): d
No partition is defined yet!
CURRENT BEHAVIOUR::
Command (m for help): p
Disk hda: 0 MB, 0 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 256 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x5459a60a
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
hda2 1 123 987966 83 Linux
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 2 <======= no prompt here
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris)
Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 2 <======= no prompt here
Command (m for help): 1
1: unknown command
Command action
a toggle a bootable flag
b edit bsd disklabel
c toggle the dos compatibility flag
d delete a partition
l list known partition types
m print this menu
n add a new partition
o create a new empty DOS partition table
p print the partition table
q quit without saving changes
s create a new empty Sun disklabel
t change a partition's system id
u change display/entry units
v verify the partition table
w write table to disk and exit
x extra functionality (experts only)
1-CYLINDER PARTITIONS (CURRENT BEHAVIOUR):
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 4
First cylinder (124-256, default 124): 256
<======== no prompt!
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 4
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 4
First cylinder (124-256, default 124): 255
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (255-256, default 256): 256 <=== !
PARTIAL PATCH:: (only for partition selection):
diff --git a/fdisk/fdisk.c b/fdisk/fdisk.c
index 6b0fdfe..6bb7003 100644
--- a/fdisk/fdisk.c
+++ b/fdisk/fdisk.c
@@ -1382,20 +1382,12 @@ get_existing_partition(int warn, int max) {
struct partition *p = pe->part_table;
if (p && !is_cleared_partition(p)) {
- if (pno >= 0)
- goto not_unique;
- pno = i;
+ /* If there are partitions defined, ask which */
+ return get_partition(warn, max);
}
}
- if (pno >= 0) {
- printf(_("Selected partition %d\n"), pno+1);
- return pno;
- }
printf(_("No partition is defined yet!\n"));
return -1;
-
- not_unique:
- return get_partition(warn, max);
}
static int
--
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