Polytropon wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:54:23 -0400, PJ <af.gour...@videotron.ca> wrote:
>
>> Why is it that the manual pages, as thorough as they may be, are very,
>> very confusing.
>>
>
> A common misunderstanding about manpages can be that they
> are often (wishfully?) seen as a tutorial or a howto. In
> fact, they are references.
>
>
>
>
>> Perhaps I am being too wary, but I find that too many
>> instructions/examples are stumbling blocks to appreciation of the whole
>> system:
>> for instance, let's look at the instructions for changing disk labels
>> with glabel or is it tunefs ?
>> man glabel(8):
>>
>> for UFS the file system label is set with
>> tunefs(8)
>> <http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tunefs&sektion=8&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+7.2-RELEASE>.
>> what happened to glabel?
>>
>
> That's confusing...
>
>
>
>
>> man tunefs(8)
>> The *tunefs* utility cannot be
>> run on an active file system. To change an active file system, it must
>> be downgraded to read-only or unmounted.
>>
>> So, you have to run tunefs from an active file system to modify another
>> disk?
>>
>
> No. "Active file system" refers to a file system that is mounted
> rw - the common method of using a file system. But in order to run
> a program from a file system, the file system can as well be mounted
> ro. This still allows running programs.
>
> A setting you'll often find is maintenance done in single user
> mode; here, / is mounted ro to give access to the basic programs
> in /bin and /sbin. All other partitions, including /usr, are not
> mounted. They don't need to be for having a fully functional
> system in maintenance mode.
>
>
>
>
>> but from man tunefs:
>> BUGS
>> This utility should work on active file systems.
>> What in hades does this mean--just above it says cannot be run on active
>> file systems. ???
>>
>
> It "should". This means: Don't try that. :-)
>
> My printer isn't printing!
> But it should.
> No, it is not printing!
> Yes, but it should.
> :-)
>
>
Aha! Gotcha! Whoever wrote that has made an unintentionnal booboo. It is
a subtle difference and is indicative that whoever wrote it is not a
native english user... the meaning is clearly "should be executed, done,
carried out, performed" - should work means it can be carried out - I
think the author meant to say "should not be done"
>
>
>> To change the root file
>> system, the system must be rebooted after the file system is tuned.
>>
>> You can tune a file system, but you cannot tune a fish.
>> How cute... And fish eat bugs.
>>
>
> Nice you found this. :-)
>
>
>
>
>> Seriously, now to the manual:
>> To create a permanent label for a UFS2 file system without destroying
>> any data, issue the following command:
>> # tunefs -L /home/ /dev/da3
>>
>> Oh? home is what? What does this have to do with the partitions?
>>
>
> The volume name, according to the manual, is "/home/" now,
> isn't it?
>
>
>
>
>> from manual:
>> # tunefs -L /home/ //dev/da3/
>>
>
> I cannot find this in the tunefs manual in group 8... It
> seems that there are too many /s in it...
>
>
typo, sorry
>
>
>> Do people who write this stuff ever read it? Tell me that its clear and
>> simple and to the point... so far, I have been running back and forth
>> between half a dozen web pages trying to understand what is going on...
>> and doing things through a dense fog does not produce creative results!
>>
>
> Wow... I'm having problems now, too. Maybe I should re-read
> the manpages a few times...
>
I agree that the manual is not intended as a tutorial... but then what
is a manual but a source for a tutorial... ;-)
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