[syslinux] [PATCH 1/5] fat: fix minfatsize for large FAT32

Pete Batard
2016-02-26T16:37:44Z

On 2016.02.26 15:32, Ady via Syslinux wrote:
> Regarding the "+1", when talking about the math (not the computer
code
> to achieve a result as accurate as it can be)

Well, sorry, but I will not dissociate the context of application from
the formula itself. I thought this was implied into what I wrote, which
was in the context of fixing a computation algorithm bug. The sole
interest I (and I posit others should) have in the formula is how it
applies to computer code, as we are not trying to write a mathematical
proof in the absolute here, but instead code that meets the requirements
of using all potentially addressable sectors. *This* is the only context
of correctness that should matter. Anything else, as interesting as it
may be, is sidetracking and not something I personally want to
participate in.

> we should
> at least test the values that are around or close to the limits between
> FAT12/16/32.

There I'm going to reduce the context even further: In the context where
this algorithm is applied in Rufus, we don't care about non FAT32
computations, or ones performed for disks that are less than 32 GB in
size (for which the sectors per cluster will never be 1 even with 4K
sectors as our minimal cluster size is 8K as soon as we reach 31GB).

That's not to say that I wouldn't pick on improvements to the new
computation algorithm [1] when low values are used, if such improvements
are actually needed, and if *somebody else* kindly wants to figure them
out, as there is always the possibility that other developers might
re-use the code from Rufus and try to apply it to <31GB drives. But, in
the context I am concerned with, I don't see any potential issue on the
horizon from not performing that homework. So, there again, I will
simply say thanks for bringing attention to these matters, while at the
same time mention that I'm simply gonna pass on those, since they appear
irrelevant with regards to the context that matters in my application...

Regards,

/Pete

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