[Parted-maintainers] Bug#602533: parted sees useless /dev/cciss/ device

[Ian Jackson]

Package: parted
Version: 1.8.8.git.2008.03.24-11.1

I'm running this version of parted running on an HP DL165 with
linux-image-2.6.26-2-686-bigmem 2.6.26-25lenny1.  I have nothing
connected to the CCISS controller; the disks are connected only to the
ordinary SATA controller.

However, there is still a device node /dev/cciss/c0d0, without a
corresponding entry in /proc/partitions.  parted sees this and
complains about it.

Notably: parted -l prints:

  Error: /dev/cciss/c0d0: unrecognised disk label                           

Another consequence of this behaviour is that d-i prints this warning,
interrupting automatic installations:

  Unable to determine geometry of file/device /dev/cciss/c0d0.  You should not use Parted unless you REALLY know what you're doing!
  Warning!
    1. Ignore [*]
    2. Cancel    
  Prompt: '?' for help, default=1>

The device can be opened but looks empty:

  woodlouse:~# dd if=/dev/cciss/c0d0 of=t
  0+0 records in
  0+0 records out
  0 bytes (0 B) copied, 0.000570254 s, 0.0 kB/s
  woodlouse:~#

It would be nice if parted could be taught to ignore this spurious
device.  Perhaps it should ignore all zero-length devices ?

Ian.