[Novalug] Device naming.

[Gopher]

On 3/15/10 12:05 PM, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> The /etc/fstab is still utilized.  It _overrides_ automated facilities.
> The same is true of network configuration files accessed at boot
> v. NetworkManager.
>
> If you use the legacy facilities, they will _pre-empt_ the automated
> facilities.  That's the choice one can make.
>    
Ok, I'm slogging through the last few days' discourse trying to make 
sense of it all and I'm feeling very out of touch right now, so I'm 
going to ask for a very clear explanation on a few points, if you don't 
mind.

/etc/fstab:

Are you saying that that if I want a modern Linux box to automatically 
mount drives (partitions, gizmos, buckets, what have you) I do *NOT* use 
/etc/fstab, at all?  And I'm going to ask you to answer this question in 
the context of a root drive/partition/thing.  Because as far as I know 
(right now), I have to have some entry in /etc/fstab which specifies 
that my root file system should be mounted on device/partition/UUID/etc 
'XXXX' when the box boots, otherwise it doesn't get mounted and things 
come to a screeching halt.

*OR*

Is it that I should use /etc/fstab for ONLY static things (like my root 
partition/filesystem) and *NOT* for thing like removable USB devices.  
(This is the one that I'm hoping you'll say is correct, because 
otherwise I think my head will explode.)

Now, on to NetworkManager...

What is it? The only thing I know of that I believe is called 
NetworkManager is some Gnome tool for managing network interfaces.  But 
I never use Gnome (only under duress), I use KDE (grudgingly) and I 
don't let KDE manage my network interfaces. I still edit 
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 when I'm on RH and 
/etc/network/interfaces when I'm on Ubuntu and these are for static IPs 
and wireless isn't part of the equation, ever.  So is NM a Gnome/GUI 
thing or something else I just haven't run into yet?

And a few thoughts on why I feel I've had no idea what the hell you 
people have been talking about this week.

I'd like to add a bit of context about myself, and I'm thinking this is 
why I really am learning about all sorts of things this week I've never 
heard of before (gvfs, devfs, udev, /dev/sr*, /dev/sg*, NetworkManager, 
etc.).  I'm mostly an old power user/command line junkie and I primarily 
work with servers - even at home.  So I don't use GUIs on Linux unless I 
have to; I have a sole box running X/KDE to allow me multiple ssh 
windows  and Firefox, but that's about it (I have a Mac for more GUI 
related work). And I hardly ever use removable devices of any kind on 
Linux systems. When I need to shuffle files around, I don't reach for a 
USB stick I just move them over the network.   At work, when I set up a 
new Linux host it's to add a new application/DB server to the world, not 
an end-user's workstation, so the only people who ever log into my boxes 
directly are SAs who have root access. So the concept of allowing 
non-root users A) to log on to one of my hosts, and B) to allow them to 
mount things is a meaningless idea where I work as there are no users 
who don't have root access.  At home, none of my Linux boxen run X, 
there's no point, I only log into the console when I there's a real 
problem, otherwise I just use ssh to connect to them from my Mac; again: 
command line, no need for X.

I've been seeing statements this week such as, 'just pop in a cd-rom and 
it will appear on your desktop'.  I see that happen on my X/KDE 
workstation, but I don't see anything like that happening on my other 
Linux servers (I've always thought this was a function of KDE or Gnome, 
not udev, etc.).  If I'm setting up a VM guest under VMWare and I want 
to load vmtools, once I toggle ESX to give the tools 'cd' to the guest, 
I have to mount /dev/cdrom by hand - every time; there's not 
automounting involved here. (oh, and there is no desktop, there's no X!).

...so where I'm going here is that I know a lot of SAs like me, and I've 
yet to find anybody who doesn't add their static IP to 
/etc/network/interfaces directly or who doesn't add their root partition 
to /etc/fstab.   So I'm starting to think that all of this 'automagical' 
mounting stuff and nifty management tools are really for the benefit of 
those Linux users who run their workstations with full X Servers + 
Gnome/KDE/XCFE/etc. and that us guys who prefer to live on the command 
line and who really aren't 'end users' (those who are constantly 
adding/removing external hard drives and USB thingies) aren't 
necessarily the target audience of the discussion.  Thoughts?

Thx
Gopher.

P.S. My queue of 'must read' Linux howto webpages is completely gotten 
out of hand this week. Thanks a lot, guys. ;)