Re: error scripting parted using the mkfs command

[Nathan Boettcher]

> Thats a shame :(.

Yes it is.  But alas, I will have to take the time and try out later versions.  
I was hoping that one or more of the developers would be able to respond to the 
list and tell me.

> Well, I've been using parted for my partitioning needs for quite some
> time and it seem to work rather well.  I _do_ understand you lack of
> trust with respect to it actually working for whatever you objective is,
> so what I suggest is to test the new version on another system.  If you
> don't have another system, you could always use kvm, xen or vmware to
> test stuff.

Yes, I am using VMWare currently with the OS I have...it will take time I am 
hoping not to use in order to set up a new system for testing a later version.  
Hence my post to the list, hoping to save some time and get a straight answer 
to a question rather than taking extra time to do the research.  I've always 
been a proponent of asking the question first and doing the research 
second...saves time and money.  That's where the 'wastes my time' comment came 
from.

> Well, if you were to find stuff that does not work in parted 1.8.8, it
> would be very helpful to the parted project as you can confirm that in
> your specific setup the app just does not work.  Far from a pointless
> waste of time.

I understand and I will report what I see.  As it is, I haven't because I'm 
using an old version...so it may be fixed and a duplicate bug report.  That's 
not very helpful.

> Sure, I bet if you look hard enough you will find someone that knows
> enough about parted and can answer your question for 1.8.5.

Reason for this list is so I _don't_ have to look that hard.  Ya know. ;)

> Parted _does_ create the partitions correctly.  Well, the 1.8.8 version
> anyway.  What parted sucks at is creating the filesystems inside the
> partitions.  This should be handled by filesystem editors not partition
> editors.  So when I say "only create partitions", I mean create the
> partitions with parted and the filesystem with e2fsprogs or something
> that is an expert at creating partitions.

Well, that would be great if I could get the e2fs programs to see inside an 
image with multiple partitions.  In a normal scenario, you have a physical 
device that is given a device under /dev for each partition, etc.  With an 
image, you don't.  You need to get inside it somehow and e2fs programs don't.  
That's why I need parted working.  Otherwise I have to do it the hard way and 
create an image for each partition and then stuff it into the image for the 
disk.  I'm trying to do it the easier way to shave off time and effort.  It 
REALLY makes a difference when I'm having to do 5 of these in a day since each 
one takes 30min or more each.  Doesn't give me a lot of time for other stuff 
since I have other things to do after it's done.

> I strongly suggest you use some other tool as parted is known to suck at
this.

Apparently.  Hopefully they'll fix that and get the mkfs stuff working 
properly...maybe even using the e2fs type programs. :)

In any case, I appreciate any and all help.

-Nathan