On Wed, 2010-03-03 at 23:26 -0800, Josh Triplett wrote: > On Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 01:01:02AM +0000, Ben Hutchings wrote: > > On Wed, 2010-03-03 at 11:41 -0800, Josh Triplett wrote: > > > Package: linux-base > > > Version: 2.6.33-1~experimental.2 > > > Severity: normal > > > > > > The conversion script decided to use LABEL=myhostname-swap for my swap > > > partition. Swap partitions support UUIDs too; please consider using > > > those instead. > > > > I think labels are far more user-friendly since they are actually > > memorable. Therefore, for devices that have both a label and a UUID, > > the label will be used, and for devices that have neither, a label will > > be generated. You are free to reject the plan and edit files yourself. > > Unless you can give a very good reason why UUIDs are preferable, I will > > not implement this. > > I can give several good reasons. > > UUIDs generally can't collide; labels can. Bad Things could happen if > two different partitions end up with the same label. That's why I include the hostname in generated labels, and avoid all the existing disk labels. > Consider what would happen if you had a Linux install on a USB flash > drive. (I have several specialized Debian systems that run off USB > drives.) What happens if you plug a system with a partition labeled > "/" into a system which already has a partition labeled "/"? > > UUIDs generally won't appear anywhere where "user-friendly" matters. > Users shouldn't fiddle with /etc/fstab or similar unless they have a > clue. Graphical tools will use a label if available, even if the actual > mount call doesn't. And clueful users can remember UUIDs, can they? > Furthermore, filesystems won't necessarily already have labels, while > all filesystems *should* have UUIDs. Though this is not yet true for swap partitions. > A few references I found: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-user@lists.debian.org/msg478822.html > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364441 > > Does all of this provide sufficient reason, or should I provide more? > :) There is one argument you missed: consistency with new installations, which do use UUIDs. So I will consider doing this now, but it's quite a lot of work. Ben. -- Ben Hutchings Q. Which is the greater problem in the world today, ignorance or apathy? A. I don't know and I couldn't care less.
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