Trying to get a partition shared between WinXP and FC3

[Leslie Katz]

At 05:42 AM 05/08/23, Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> Leslie Katz wrote:
> > At 10:06 PM 05/08/20, Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> > > It seems you need an option "umask=000" in your /etc/fstab,
>
> Did this indeed do the trick?

It seems to have put an end to the "writing to" issue. On the 
question of such options and for the benefit of anyone who may 
afterwards read this thread, I mention, in addition to the Ed Parks 
article already referred to, an article called "The vfat file system 
and Linux", which was published earlier this year at www.osnews.com. 
(My hard copy says: http://www.osnews.com/printer.php?news_id=9681.)


> > 1. if you want to use mkfs to change the file system of an
> > existing mounted partition, it will be necessary for you to
> > unmount that partition before you change its file system.
>
> Well, that really goes without saying: when you mount a filesystem,
> you're telling the OS: "use it as you see fit".  Then you can't go
> and destroy that filesystem while it is in the OS's hands.
>
> > 2. if there is an entry in the file "/etc/fstab" for the
> > partition whose file system you have changed with mkfs, you
> > should edit that file to reflect the change of the partition's
> > file system before any re-boot.
>
> When closing parted, it always prints the message "Don't forget to
> update /etc/fstab, if necessary."; maybe your version didn't do
> that yet, but nowadays it does.  IMO this is enough.

I've been in the law for over forty years now and in that time I've 
been involved a lot both in the drawing of rules of various kinds and 
in the interpreting of rules drawn by other people.

To me, a software manual is really just a set of rules.

My way of proceeding when I'm drawing legal rules is never to say one 
is good enough as it is, simply because knowledgeable people will 
understand it. What I'm always trying to achieve is a form of legal 
rule that even an ignorant person won't be able to misunderstand. I 
do things that way because I've found that it's almost always easier 
to avoid a problem in advance than it is to try to fix it after it occurs.

My limited experience so far in the Linux world is that my approach 
isn't a popular one where rules for using Linux software are 
concerned. Instead, the idea often seems to be that the ignorant 
newcomer must prove him/herself worthy of using Linux by having the 
ability to overcome problems caused by cryptically expressed rules.

I suppose it comes down to a question of whether one thinks that 
Linux should have a limited usage or should become the universal os.

My thanks again to Benno for taking the trouble to help me with my 
problem. I'm very happy having a functioning shared partition on my 
FC3 hard drive.


> Benno