Disk Druid - Fedora flame #1

[David Liguori]

Jeff Vian wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-01-24 at 07:51 -0700, James Mckenzie wrote:
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Timothy Murphy <tim at birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie>
>>Sent: Jan 24, 2005 6:28 AM
>>To: fedora-list at redhat.com
>>Subject: Re: Disk Druid - Fedora flame #1
>>
>>Colin Charles wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>>Why has the choice of fdisk disappeared?
>>>>
>>>>Because it scares users away. And on ppc, we need to show pdisk maybe
>>>
>>>I've never seen any evidence that anyone has ever been "scared" by fdisk.
>>>When it was offered, it was described as "for expert users only",
>>>so it seems very unlikely anyone of a nervous disposition would try it.
>>
>>That is very true, but some folks need a guiding hand when installing ANY operating system.  
>>
>>>In any case, I do not understand why fdisk is considered so dangerous.
>>
>>Have you ever had to rebuild a hard drive because a user decided to run fdisk and then "save" their efforts?  It is not pretty when you have to tell them that they just lost over ninety days worth of work.  Yes, I have and at the time I could run very fast (the person threatened bodily harm and blamed me for their mistake.)  The default at most places is to remove the fdisk (and any other disk functionality to include defragmentation software) because most users of computers do not understand the results of their actions.  This is what makes fdisk an extremely dangerous command.
>>
>>I come from before the days of MS-DOS and am very knowledgeable of what I am doing.  However, some folks have problems finding and properly utilizing the power switch on their computers.  So, for those folks, we have Disk Druid.  For those of us that understand the 'power' of fdisk, it is still there and we can still use it.
>>
>>
>>>As far as I can see, it does exactly what it says
>>>(which is more than can be said for Disk Druid,
>>>which does what it wants).
>>>The only problem I can see that could arise with fdisk
>>>would be if you deleted a partition by mistake,
>>>but that seems to me quite difficult to do.
>>
>>You have a few days you are not doing anything with?  Try this on a disk that you have data on that you don't care about (and this is what the user did in the story above).  Start fdisk on a running system, delete any random partition (try root just for fun).  Create TWO new partitions out of the old partition.  Write the partition table.  Run your system for a while.  Shut down and reboot.   Don't be surprised that your system cannot boot.  Call in IT maintenance and NOT tell them what you did because you can be fired for an unauthorized system modification.  After IT maintenance tries for a while to figure out what you did, blame them for breaking your system.  
>>
> 
> 
> BTW, James, psacct would provide forensic process tracking of what a
> user has done.  It can often save the butt of an IT worker accused
> falsely of something.
> 
> 
>>>Note that I am not asking for Disk Druid to be removed.
>>>I am simply asking for fdisk to be restored as a choice
>>>(with the warning that it is only for experts, if you like).
>>
>>This will not stop the ID10Ts from trying to set up their 'better' solutions.  However, for those of us that know better a special keystroke would be much better.  
>>
>>
>>>I want to choose how my disk is partitioned,
>>>and in my experience Disk Druid does not allow me to do this.
>>
>>I've run Disk Druid and setup my own drives and had no problems.  I even decided to setup a LVM with it.  
>>
>>For the ID10Ts out there, DD is a workable solution.  For those of us that know what we are doing and are willing ot accept the results if we mess up. FDISK should be there for us.  However, we have to figure out a method that keeps the ID10Ts from making our lives miserable.  And, yes, some of those folks live in the higher levels of management.

Why do I have a sneaking suspicion one could hose one's system just as thoroughly with Disk Druid, and with as little effort?

 --
David Liguori