On Sunday 29 March 2009 01:43:35 H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> > Any comments? Is this going to break someone's favourite USB stick
> > formatter?
> Almost certainly. And yes, I agree this is a bug. I've found it
> hideously annoying from day 1.
Let's fix it! We can hack it to work both ways.
This approach should work (unless I'm missing something about the more
esoteric partition types): For 't' and 'd', if something other than the
single automatic default (1, 2, 3 or 4) is given which is a valid value for
the *next* input, then that default is selected, and the input is preserved
for the next prompt. With that scheme, the input below remains valid (wisdom
from random bullettin board to create a partition, set the type, activate and
write, my comments added):
d <=== delete: no partition given, single partition assumed
u <=== this is a valid command, not a value in range 1 to 4
n
p
1
489
t <=== type: no partition given, partition 1 assumed
c <=== this is not a value, but not 1 (nor 2, 3 or 4)
a
1
w
So, when fdisk++ asks for a partition number (and there's only one
possibility), the user can ignore the question, and type the reply for the
next prompt -- the following command after 'd'elete, or the type of the
partition. For setting the 't'ype of the final partition, a script without
modifications would *fail* to set partition types 1 to 4 (FAT12, XENIX root,
XENIX usr, FAT16 <32M) (but usually type 1, FAT12, since few people number
their first partition 2 to 4). When last did an automatic script set those,
I wonder ...
So, something like this:
Command (m for help): p
...
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
hda2 1 1023 8217216 83 Linux
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): n <===== this is the next command, not a partition
DEPRECATED BEHAVIOUR! THAT'S NOT A PARTITION
Selected default partition 2 <=== apply old behaviour
Command (m for help): n <===== input carried over
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-1023, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-1023, default 1023):
Using default value 1023
...
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 83 <=== Actually a partition type
DEPRECATED BEHAVIOUR! THAT'S NOT A PARTITION
Selected default partition 1 <=== apply old behaviour
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82 <===== input carried over
Changed system type of partition 1 to 82 (Linux swap)
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