For some kernel revisions there is the new libata driver available. This new framework supports SATA and PATA likewise, but all drives are named /dev/sd*, which makes some explanations obsolete in the Handbook. For example when explaining block devices, /dev/sd* is only referred for SATA and SCSI disks, the same for Grub and fstab.
. . . except that not everyone uses the new libata for all block devices. I have found that it's quite honestly extremely crappy for my IDE drives on all three of my machines, so I use the older subsystem for IDE drives. I don't think we should unequivocally recommend the new libata system yet, especially as it's still marked as experimental. Also, if not everyone has it available in their kernels yet, it's a maintenance headache to only keep track of it for some arches and not others. We've been trying to move away from some headaches. :)
It is reasonable to expect that libata might become the new default in near future. I guess that having a note explaining that users running libata access their disks through the /dev/sd* nodes doesn't hurt.
IMO, Christian did not ask us to recommend libata, but to adjust the the text that says hd*==IDE and sd*==SCSI/SATA which is not true anymore.
(In reply to comment #3) > IMO, Christian did not ask us to recommend libata, but to adjust the the text > that says hd*==IDE and sd*==SCSI/SATA which is not true anymore. Correct.
Fixed in CVS. Will be there for the 2008.0 handbooks.
