[Grml] Poll: PATA vs. LIBATA

Discussion:

Michael Prokop

2009-04-02 09:26:47 UTC

Hi,

the grml team wants to collect feedback regarding the recent switch
from PATA to LIBATA. PATA? LIBATA?

* PATA provides the old IDE subsystem (/dev/hdX), considered as
legacy code.
* LIBATA is the new subsystem (/dev/sdX) with new features, but some
old IDE systems might not work with it.

Please participate in the poll! => http://doodle.com/vr75tpe4a2p6mwvt

We highly appreciate and need your feedback.
Thanks!

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Frank Terbeck

2009-04-02 11:35:57 UTC

Permalink

Michael Prokop <mika at grml.org>:
[...]

Post by Michael Prokop
* PATA provides the old IDE subsystem (/dev/hdX), considered as
legacy code.
* LIBATA is the new subsystem (/dev/sdX) with new features, but some
old IDE systems might not work with it.

Okay, the advantage in using PATA is backwards compatibility, which is
a good thing[tm].

The advantage of libata are the "new features".

For an educated decision, it would be good to know some drawbacks
involved when reverting from libata. In other words: what does the
user lose if grml reverts to pata?

Regards, Frank

--
In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- RFC 1925

Michael Prokop

2009-04-02 12:53:51 UTC

Permalink

Post by Frank Terbeck
[...]

Okay, the advantage in using PATA is backwards compatibility, which is
a good thing[tm].
The advantage of libata are the "new features".
For an educated decision, it would be good to know some drawbacks
involved when reverting from libata. In other words: what does the
user lose if grml reverts to pata?

You're absolutely right, Frank - thanks. But I didn't want to
provide too many details before I've feedback from our user base.

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Michael Prokop

2009-04-02 12:53:51 UTC

Permalink

Post by Frank Terbeck
[...]

Okay, the advantage in using PATA is backwards compatibility, which is
a good thing[tm].
The advantage of libata are the "new features".
For an educated decision, it would be good to know some drawbacks
involved when reverting from libata. In other words: what does the
user lose if grml reverts to pata?

You're absolutely right, Frank - thanks. But I didn't want to
provide too many details before I've feedback from our user base.

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Michael Prokop

2009-04-02 12:53:51 UTC

Permalink

Post by Frank Terbeck
[...]

Okay, the advantage in using PATA is backwards compatibility, which is
a good thing[tm].
The advantage of libata are the "new features".
For an educated decision, it would be good to know some drawbacks
involved when reverting from libata. In other words: what does the
user lose if grml reverts to pata?

You're absolutely right, Frank - thanks. But I didn't want to
provide too many details before I've feedback from our user base.

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Michael Prokop

2009-04-06 14:20:00 UTC

Permalink

Post by Michael Prokop
the grml team wants to collect feedback regarding the recent switch
from PATA to LIBATA. PATA? LIBATA?
* PATA provides the old IDE subsystem (/dev/hdX), considered as
legacy code.
* LIBATA is the new subsystem (/dev/sdX) with new features, but some
old IDE systems might not work with it.
Please participate in the poll! => http://doodle.com/vr75tpe4a2p6mwvt

We've 35 votes for 'grml 2008.11 boots fine on my system(s)',
5 votes without answering this question.

Just 3 votes for 'grml 2008.11 does not boot on my system(s)'.
I'd love to get hardware information from those people so I can
contact the LIBATA maintainers with according information!

Now, what's the benefit from using LIBATA? Mainly (improved) support
for Native Command Queueing (NCQ) and hotplugging - check out:

http://linux-ata.org/
http://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page

As Ubuntu, RedHat/Fedora/... chose to go with LIBATA-only and get
rid of old CONFIG_IDE as well I think it's the way to go in the long
run. And if you encounter any problems: *please* let us know!

Thanks to all of you who voted!

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Michael Prokop

2009-04-02 09:26:47 UTC

Permalink

Hi,

the grml team wants to collect feedback regarding the recent switch
from PATA to LIBATA. PATA? LIBATA?

* PATA provides the old IDE subsystem (/dev/hdX), considered as
legacy code.
* LIBATA is the new subsystem (/dev/sdX) with new features, but some
old IDE systems might not work with it.

Please participate in the poll! => http://doodle.com/vr75tpe4a2p6mwvt

We highly appreciate and need your feedback.
Thanks!

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Frank Terbeck

2009-04-02 11:35:57 UTC

Permalink

Michael Prokop <mika at grml.org>:
[...]

--
In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- RFC 1925

Michael Prokop

2009-04-06 14:20:00 UTC

Permalink

Oh my dear... I meant *IDE* (as in CONFIG_IDE) vs. LIBATA/PATA of
course. No idea what was riding me... (thanks to maks for the hint)
- sorry for that! :-/

In case you got a mail and are confused what just happend: the
question mark in the first column of the poll just visualises that
the option was adjusted by the poll admin (that's me). I just
replaced the word "PATA" with "CONFIG_IDE" (no further changes -
promissed :)) - and this caused to mark this option with the '?' on
every single vote (sorry, I wasn't aware of that when editing, yeah
not my best day ;-)).

But as all of you got the idea anyway and I've the answer I was
looking for I just closed the poll. The overall result:

40 participants

38 votes for 'Stay with LIBATA' and just two persons without
answering this option overall. So not a *single* vote for falling
back to the old subsystem code. This is great! :)

JFTR: I made a screenshot of the vote which visualises the result of
the poll before I edited it (regarding PATA/CONFIG_IDE):

http://grml.org/screeni/gkrellShoot_09-04-06_154033.png

We've 35 votes for 'grml 2008.11 boots fine on my system(s)',
5 votes without answering this question.

Just 3 votes for 'grml 2008.11 does not boot on my system(s)'.
I'd love to get hardware information from those people so I can
contact the LIBATA maintainers with according information!

Now, what's the benefit from using LIBATA? Mainly (improved) support
for Native Command Queueing (NCQ) and hotplugging - check out:

http://linux-ata.org/
http://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page

As Ubuntu, RedHat/Fedora/... chose to go with LIBATA-only and get
rid of old CONFIG_IDE as well I think it's the way to go in the long
run. And if you encounter any problems: *please* let us know!

Thanks to all of you who voted!

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Michael Prokop

2009-04-02 09:26:47 UTC

Permalink

Hi,

the grml team wants to collect feedback regarding the recent switch
from PATA to LIBATA. PATA? LIBATA?

* PATA provides the old IDE subsystem (/dev/hdX), considered as
legacy code.
* LIBATA is the new subsystem (/dev/sdX) with new features, but some
old IDE systems might not work with it.

Please participate in the poll! => http://doodle.com/vr75tpe4a2p6mwvt

We highly appreciate and need your feedback.
Thanks!

regards,
-mika-
--
http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins
http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge
http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog
#grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc
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Frank Terbeck

2009-04-02 11:35:57 UTC

Permalink

Michael Prokop <mika at grml.org>:
[...]

--
In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- RFC 1925

Michael Prokop

2009-04-06 14:20:00 UTC

Permalink