Overview Description: I'm using a monolithic 2.4.25-gentoo-r5 kernel with everything compiled in rather than set up as modules. Inserting a usb storage device brings up /dev/sda1 and all is well. Removing the device after unmounting and inserting a different device generates sdb1 even though sda1 no longer exists and should be avaliable. This makes the machine unusable for multiple users to use USB keys/digital cameras without each having root access to explicitly mount whatever device entry has been assigned. As far as I've seen an infinite cascade of /dev/sd*1 entries will get created so adding entries to fstab is no real solution. Steps to Reproduce/Results: Add a usb storage device. /dev/sda1 is created. remove the device, add a different device, /dev/sdb1 is created. Expected Results: Upon removal of the first device, sda1 should be freed up and available to be used.
Can you reproduce this with vanilla-2.4.26 // gentoo-sources-2.4.26?
That's just the way the kernel works, sorry. Not a bug at all.
In that case I'd like to suggest rectifying this as an improvement. It would be useful not to require a seperate fstab entry for each mass storage device people might conceivably use.
Sorry, but that is the way that the usb-storage code works in the 2.4 kernel, nothing we can do about it, and no kernel developer is going to change it either. If it bugs you, use the 2.6 kernel, it doesn't have that issue :)
Odd that it's meant to work that way. If 2.6 doesn't have this issue I'll switch. Thanks.
