[parted-devel] [ PATCH ] extended attributes support on ext2 and ext3 filesystem

[Jim Meyering]

Joel Granados wrote:
> Hello list.
>
> With this patch I would like to put something on the table :)  We have
> had discussions as to the relevance of file system support in parted.
> The argument that parted is just to edit partitions has been thrown
> around a log and has its merit. I am for stripping parted from all
> its file system code with exception for the bare essentials.  That is,
> stuff that detects file systems and stuff that tells us the state of the
> file system when we are resizing (Can't think of anymore).
>
> My reasoning for this is that the file system tools do a much better job
> at handling file system related stuff like creation, clean removal,
> resizing (especially resizing), handling of special cases...  Also, it
> seems overkill to repeat file system code.

Hi Joel,

You know I'm all for this.
However, it is a big and relatively risky project.
As outlined before, the recommended steps would probably go like this:

  - document the upcoming change and make each deprecated
      UI-based command evoke a diagnostic

  - wait a while
      This is where we might learn that some part of the
      planned-to-remove functionality is available nowhere else.

  - make any use of a deprecated command cause failure,
      but include a switch to disable the failure

  - wait a while

  - finally: remove all of the deprecated code

For now, as I find time, I'm working on making the partition-related code
on "next" work with larger-than-512-byte sectors.  Until that's done,
I won't be spending much time on other parted-related tasks for a while.