[parted-devel] [PATCH] support read-only and no-auto flags used by systemd-gpt-auto-generator

[John Gilmore]

Is there some reason why the default in this new feature in systemd
would be to mount unmarked GPT partitions read-write?  That seems
destructive of partition integrity.  Parted should be cautious about
introducing changes that default to destroying partition integrity.

Why shouldn't the default value of these flags be to leave every GPT
partition alone, and if you want *your* particular partition
auto-mounted read-only on every Linux system you ever plug it into, or
auto-modified by systemd, you'd simply set "please-mount" and
"please-write" flags on it?

I admit that I plug in a lot more USB, SATA or PATA drives than most
people, which either belong to others and shouldn't be modified, and/or
are physically damaged, and/or are things like backup drives that I want
to restore files from (which should default to read-only!).  But as a
result, I find it sad and infuriating that every new Linux distro
release comes up with yet another default way to forcibly, writeably,
mount everything that is ever hotplugged into the system, before the
user can do anything about it.  And every release has a different,
arcane, way for the user or administrator to try to turn off this
behavior; and the previous release's way to turn it off never works in
the new release.  This has literally been happening every release for
the last 6 or 8 years.  Sometimes it's daemons, sometimes it's Gnome,
sometimes it's Dbus, sometimes it's just inscrutable.  Try searching the
web for "Linux prevent auto-mount" if you don't believe me.

Now it looks like our favorite inscrutable runamok daemon, systemd, is
inventing Yet Another New Trap for people who merely want to NOT WRITE
TO EVERY DEVICE THEY EVER PLUG IN?

Could Parted help with that effort, by not accepting patches that
default to partition-integrity-destroying behavior?

Thank you.

	John