Don't exit early if the device is not character special or if the

device driver cannot supply a label (real or faked).  This allows
you to practice using fdisk on disposable media (e.g., "dd count=1
<dev/zero >/tmp/junk; fdisk /tmp/junk", "dd count=1 </etc/passwd
>/tmp/fix-up-the-mess; fdisk /tmp/fix-up-the-mess") and allows me
to test DOSpartitioning and labelling on floppies.

1 files changed, 11 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/sbin/fdisk/fdisk.c b/sbin/fdisk/fdisk.c
index 7fb728d67d20..933906056f9f 100644
--- a/sbin/fdisk/fdisk.c
+++ b/sbin/fdisk/fdisk.c
@@ -452,11 +452,10 @@ struct stat 	st;
 		fprintf(stderr, "%s: Can't get file status of %s\n",
 			name, disk);
 		return -1;
-	} else if ( !(st.st_mode & S_IFCHR) ) {
+	}
+	if ( !(st.st_mode & S_IFCHR) )
 		fprintf(stderr,"%s: Device %s is not character special\n",
 			name, disk);
-		return -1;
-	}
 	if ((fd = open(disk, u_flag?O_RDWR:O_RDONLY)) == -1) {
 		fprintf(stderr,"%s: Can't open device %s\n", name, disk);
 		return -1;
@@ -486,7 +485,15 @@ get_params(verbose)
 {
 
     if (ioctl(fd, DIOCGDINFO, &disklabel) == -1) {
-	return -1;
+	fprintf(stderr,
+		"%s: Can't get disk parameters on %s; supplying dummy ones\n",
+		name, disk);
+	dos_cyls = cyls = 1;
+	dos_heads = heads = 1;
+	dos_sectors = sectors = 1;
+	dos_cylsecs = cylsecs = heads * sectors;
+	disksecs = cyls * heads * sectors;
+	return disksecs;
     }
 
     dos_cyls = cyls = disklabel.d_ncylinders;