>> > If you do mean a partition label, can you elaborate as to what the
>> > use case is and why a filesystem label doesn't work for it? I'm sure
>>
>> FWIW, I use "partition" labels (more specifically LVM names) because
>> they have the advantage of working the same no matter what the partition
>> holds, so I don't need to remember which command to use for
>> which filesystem.
>
> Sorry, being familiar both with partition labels, and LVM, I don't
> know what an "LVM name" is in relation to a partition label. Can you
> elaborate?
>
> In my understanding, an LVM name is just the name of an LVM device
> like /dev/vgname/lvname whereas a partition label specifically is an
> attribute of a GPT partition entry:
That's right. LVM volumes are named, always (not even sure if you cn
keep them anonymous), so in this sense it's a bit different from
partition names since partitions usually are left unnamed (I don't
think MBR partitions can even have names).
But other than that, an LVM volume name is just "an attribute of an LVM
volume entry" the same way a partition label is "an attribute of
a GPT partition entry".
> So in my understanding, these things are not equivalent concepts.
I usually give my whole drive to LVM and then split it into LVM volumes,
just like other people give their whole drives to GPT and then split
them into GPT partitions. Then giving names to those things works
pretty much the same way and with very similar meaning.
> As evidenced by this thread lots of people confuse partition
> names/labels for filesystem labels, even though they are distinct
> things, which was why I asked Gene if he really meant a partition
> label when he wrote that.
Yes, filesystem labels are a different beast because they're stored
inside the partition. The allowed format of that label, where it's
stored within the data, and hence how to read/write it is different for
every filesystem, so it's a big mess. You can't even apply a filesystem
label to a partition that doesn't hold a filesystem, for example.
AFAIK filesystem labels are ugly hacks introduced to workaround the
fact that the MBR partition-table format did not allow giving names to
the partitions themselves. Nowadays you don't need these ugly hacks
because LVM and GPT fixed the original problem.
Stefan
