Hi Helmut,

are you sure that 'mkfs.ext2/3/4 -L "label" /dev/xxx' doesn't create a 
new fs?

Afaik to change a label of a given (ext2/3/4) filesystem you should use 
tune2fs.

I don't have a linux system available right now but this is what I would 
expect and what would make a lot more sense then changing a label via 
mkfs.ext2/3/4. If you are correct with that labeling thing then the 
btrfs way makes like 1000x more sense then the way ext2/3/4 does it.

mkfs should only be used for creating filesystems. For changing existing 
fs tools like tune2fs, btrfs etc. should be used.

Regards,
Felix


On 2/27/12 10:15 PM, Helmut Hullen wrote:

Hallo, Duncan,

Du meintest am 27.02.12:

quoted

quoted

quoted

    I've said this several times: Your expectations are wrong. You
don't label partitions.

quoted

quoted

Yes - now I know.
But I'm afraid other people also expect wrong - when I use
mkfs.ext[234] then this option works (in another way than with
"mkfs.btrfs").

quoted

AFAIK, it works in the same way... that is, it labels the, in that
case, ext2/3/4 filesystem, in this case (mkfs.btrfs), btrfs
filesystem.

quoted

 From the manpages:

quoted

mkfs.btrfs (aka mkbtrfs):

quoted

        -L, --label name
               Specify a label for the filesystem.

quoted

mkfs.ext2/3/4 (aka mke2fs):

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        -L new-volume-label
               Set  the  volume  label  for the filesystem to
	      new-volume-label.  The maximum length of the
               volume label is 16 bytes.

But there's a small difference:

         mke2fs -L MyLabel /dev/sdn4

only sets/changes the label (ok - it tests the type of the partition and
refuses labeling if the type doesn't fit).

         mkfs.btrfs -L MyLabel /dev/sdn4

not only sets/changes the label but also (re-)creates a btrfs
filesystem, using the default parameters.

I had to learn this difference ...

Viele Gruesse!
Helmut
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