Re: [coLinux-devel] Odd /dev/cobd* semantics for raw partitions

[Ronald P. <pij...@ds...>]

Seth LaForge wrote:
> I had similar problems to others here with getting raw partitions to
> work, but for a somewhat different reason: raw partition access seems
> to be rather incomplete.  In particular, a raw partition mounted as a
> /dev/cobd* device, when read using ordinary tools, always seems to
> show up as a zero-length file.  If /dev/cobd2 is a raw partition, 
> "cat /dev/cobd2" will return immediately and "file -s /dev/cobd2" prints
> "empty".  This is probably also the cause of mount not autodetecting
> filesystem type.  From these signs I had decided that my raw
> partitions weren't working, when in fact they were working fine and a
> 'mount -t ext3 /dev/cobd2 /mnt/whatever' worked.
> 
> However, if /dev/cobd0, say, is pointed at a file (rather than
> partition), it acts like a normal block device: you can cat it, 'file
> -s' it, strings it, etc.
> 
> So, it looks to me like there's something incomplete about the raw
> partition access.  Perhaps colinux isn't getting the correct partition
> size from Windows somehow?

This would explain why I can't get my ReiserFS partition mounted. 
ReiserFS does some checking on the size of the device, and currently 
complains about it.

Ronald.