Without commenting on the specifics of Mika's new implementation (I need to study it), I still want to offer opinions about USB. My users fall into the USB category.
problems start with multiple devices or devices with several partitions on it
Or moving the USB device from PC to PC. That is the whole point of using USB for many people. When you move the device, however, /dev/sda becomes /dev/sdd so the old-style fstab syntax just breaks.
Mika is probably right about automount. His opinions are what make grml so great.
On the other hand, *nix is a 30-year-old design. Not all of it is still 100% right for today. The fstab topic deserves more comments. I have opinions about fstab.
The /dev/XYZ syntax does not help. I much prefer labels/UUIDs. They are *much* less brittle for OS design. It makes more sense to use labels/UUIDs than to synchronize /dev/XYZ changes. A system based on labels/UUIDs has nothing to sync. It "just works."
Labels/UUIDs are not merely preference. They can be *necessary*
http://www.wlug.org.nz/PartitioningSuggestions
"In most cases the raw device name will do, but there are some situations in which...fstab to remember things...just won't work."
'mount /mnt/external1' (corresponding to /dev/sda1) and 'mount /mnt/external' (corresponding to /dev/sda).
I never liked those and never use them. They are irritating because there are many types of external devices. Am I mounting a camera? A scanner? A disk? A flash stick?
The traditional /dev/XYZ syntax is just a sysadmin preference. It should not be turned into a fixed rule. The rule being cemented now is this: "grml will always use /dev/XYZ syntax no matter what you want, but we offer some alternative /dev/ABC-XYZ syntax too."
The way to handle syadmin preferences is cheatcodes. A grml cheatcode already toggles "build fstab." A new cheatcode could toggle "use labels when building fstab" and "use UUIDs when building fstab." That way, old-school sysadmins could keep /dev/XYZ (and risk the brittleness).
Duplicate label problems are solved by UUIDs. People worried about that should use UUIDs. Incidentally, blkid gives the UUID.
Additionally we will create /dev/usb-sd* devices via udev rules like:
The philosophy of grml was to avoid "symlink hell." I'm ok with any solution that is not better handled by fstab labels.
If the entire purpose is to avoid labels, then I do not like the solution, because syntax is a poor reason to do anything. Besides, you could still put /dev/XYZ in comment sections of the fstab file.
Swap partitions are even worse. There is no fine control. I'm not sure how to handle them automatically in any Debian system very well. It's all-or-nothing. Grml activates all swap partitions without regard to fstab unless you boot with cheatcode "noswap" which turns them *all* off.
You can do swapon by label. You can also boot noswap. So then, by hand, you have full control: boot noswap and do swapon by label, one swap at a time. This technique gives you full control over which partitions are used.
Some of us like automation. Some of us *need* automation for end users. It would be nice to have labels for this purpose in fstab. So, in effect, the rule might be this: "only use a swap patition with these UUIDs and no other swaps you detect."
These are my inputs: Consider the mobile USB case. Think about putting /dev/XYZ in fstab comments (where they are still visible, but not active). Avoid symlink hell. Think about using cheatcodes to implement sysadmin prefs.
And ... many thanks for listening.