Re: [Bug-ddrescue] block device & outfile safety checks

[Antonio Diaz Diaz]

Hi Raphaël,

Thanks for your suggestions.

Raphaël wrote:
> 1) check that infile, if it's a block device, is not mounted
> 2) check that outfile does not belong to the same mount point that the
>     device intended to be rescued.

I'm not sure how portably these two can be implemented because posix 
does not cover the concept of mounting. Maybe they'll need to be 
compiled conditionally.

I think 1 implies 2. I.e., if infile is not mounted, outfile can't 
"belong to the same mount point".


> 3) warning/confirmation if intending to reuse a mapfile specifying a
>     non-existing outfile

This one is easy. Maybe should be enabled by --ask.


> 4) ideally, warning/confirmation if device changed since the previous
>     run (eg: store/check a couple of smart metadata?)

The only portable, more or less reliable metadata I can think of is 
size. And even this can change after a reboot. Also the change of device 
may be intended. For example when continuing the rescue of a CDROM from 
another drive. I'm not sure how this could be implemented without 
causing more confusion than good.

I'll work at least on 1 and 3 for the next version of ddrescue.


Best regards,
Antonio.