Bug#684128: PATCH: choice of binary or decimal disk storage units is runtime-configurable
On Thu, 9 Aug 2012 17:33:04 +0200
"Didier 'OdyX' Raboud" <odyx@debian.org> wrote:
>> By defining a single environment variable, the new code can be
>> configured to use the binary, rather than decimal, values of the
>> suffixes {K, M, G, T} for both input and output, while retaining the
>> above features.
>
> To be completely coherent, I think the patch should actually use the
> correct units in the two "modes": {K,M,G,T}B in the case of 10^ and
> {Ki,Mi,Gi,Ti}B in the case of 2^, otherwise we're just allowing two
> interpretations of the same units instead of making sure the correct
> units are used for the correct numbers.
Do you mean for input, or for output?
For output, there's no problem with that; see my second patch, here:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=684128#88
If the {Ki,Mi,Gi,Ti}B units were to be used for input, then the
installer text would have to explain that. However, it was stated that
it is not now feasible to get new text translated. This is why I wrote
the patch such that binary or decimal units would be selected
automatically, possibly depending on a boot parameter; no text changes
are necessary.
In any case, not everybody agrees that the "correct" units are those
officially certified for the convenience of the hard disk manufacturers,
rather than what has been conventional usage for decades. I offer again
the example of lvcreate(8), which only provides the binary units, with
"incorrect" symbols, and does not see any need to even explain this.
-- Ian Bruce
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