Whack-a-mole device assignments

[Robert]

I'm running FC3, kernel 2.6.9-1.667 and thoroughly confused by hal & 
friends.
I have a USB disk drive (a real drive) and a 256MB flash drive.  
Consider  this snippet from /var/log/messages, with comments inserted:

# First, I insert the flash "drive", followed by the Maxtor drive

Jan 20 07:32:25 mavis kernel: usb 1-5: new high speed USB device using 
address 13
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel: scsi12 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass 
Storage devices
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel:   Vendor: LEXAR     Model: 
JUMPDRIVE         Rev: 1000
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel:   Type:   
Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel: SCSI device sda: 506880 512-byte hdwr 
sectors (260 MB)
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel:  sda: sda1
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at 
scsi12, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis kernel: Attached scsi generic sg2 at scsi12, 
channel 0, id 0,lun 0,  type 0
Jan 20 07:32:26 mavis scsi.agent[3435]: disk at 
/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-5/1-5:1.0/host12/12:0:0:0
Jan 20 07:32:27 mavis fstab-sync[3532]: added mount point 
/media/LEXAR_MEDIA for /dev/sda1

# O.K., flash drive gets /dev/sda
# Now, the Maxtor drive... (It contains a small vfat partition and a 
~150GB ext3 part.)

Jan 20 07:32:49 mavis kernel: usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using 
address 14
Jan 20 07:32:49 mavis kernel: scsi13 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass 
Storage devices
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis kernel:   Vendor: Maxtor    Model: 
OneTouch          Rev: 0201
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis kernel:   Type:   
Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis kernel: SCSI device sdb: 320171008 512-byte hdwr 
sectors (163928 MB)
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis kernel: sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis kernel:  sdb: sdb1 sdb2
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis kernel: Attached scsi disk sdb at scsi13, channel 
0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis scsi.agent[3620]: disk at  
/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-3/1-3:1.0/host13/13:0:0:0
Jan 20 07:32:50 mavis kernel: Attached scsi generic sg3 at scsi13, 
channel 0, id 0,lun 0,  type 0
Jan 20 07:32:51 mavis fstab-sync[3722]: added mount point /media/NO_NAME 
for /dev/sdb1
Jan 20 07:32:51 mavis fstab-sync[3726]: added mount point /media/OTOT 
for /dev/sdb2

# So, the drive is /dev/sdb.  sdb1 is the vfat partition and sdb2 is the 
ext3 partition.  That's fine --
# If only it was repeatable...

# Now I pull both devices

Jan 20 07:34:39 mavis kernel: usb 1-5: USB disconnect, address 13
Jan 20 07:34:39 mavis fstab-sync[3895]: removed mount point 
/media/LEXAR_MEDIA for /dev/sda1
Jan 20 07:34:50 mavis kernel: usb 1-3: USB disconnect, address 14
Jan 20 07:34:50 mavis fstab-sync[3994]: removed mount point /media/OTOT 
for /dev/sdb2
Jan 20 07:34:50 mavis fstab-sync[3998]: removed mount point 
/media/NO_NAME for /dev/sdb1

# Then re-insert, but in reverse order:

Jan 20 07:35:01 mavis kernel: usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using 
address 15
Jan 20 07:35:02 mavis kernel: scsi14 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass 
Storage devices
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis kernel:   Vendor: Maxtor    Model: 
OneTouch          Rev: 0201
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis kernel:   Type:   
Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis kernel: SCSI device sda: 320171008 512-byte hdwr 
sectors (163928 MB)
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis scsi.agent[4123]: disk at 
/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-3/1-3:1.0/host14/14:0:0:0
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis kernel:  sda: sda1 sda2
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis kernel: Attached scsi disk sda at scsi14, channel 
0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 20 07:35:04 mavis kernel: Attached scsi generic sg2 at scsi14, 
channel 0, id 0,lun 0,  type 0
Jan 20 07:35:05 mavis fstab-sync[4225]: added mount point /media/NO_NAME 
for /dev/sda1
Jan 20 07:35:05 mavis fstab-sync[4229]: added mount point /media/OTOT 
for /dev/sda2

# The hard drive is now /dev/sda

Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel: usb 1-6: new high speed USB device using 
address 16
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel: scsi15 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass 
Storage devices
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel:   Vendor: LEXAR     Model: 
JUMPDRIVE         Rev: 1000
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel:   Type:   
Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel: SCSI device sdb: 506880 512-byte hdwr 
sectors (260 MB)
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel: sdb: Write Protect is off
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel: sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel:  sdb: sdb1
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sdb at 
scsi15, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis kernel: Attached scsi generic sg3 at scsi15, 
channel 0, id 0,lun 0,  type 0
Jan 20 07:35:22 mavis scsi.agent[4307]: disk at 
/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-6/1-6:1.0/host15/15:0:0:0
Jan 20 07:35:23 mavis fstab-sync[4405]: added mount point 
/media/LEXAR_MEDIA for /dev/sdb1

# And the flash drive is /dev/sdb

This doesn't really matter when I manually mount the drive(s) from a 
terminal 'cause it all gets worked out with /etc/fstab:
[rj at mavis ~]$ mount /media/LEX*
[rj at mavis ~]$ mount
/dev/hdb2 on / type ext3 (rw)
<snip>
/dev/sdb1 on /media/LEXAR_MEDIA type vfat 
(rw,nosuid,nodev,sync,noatime,user=rj)
[rj at mavis ~]$
...but it sure plays hell with trying to use device icons on the KDE 
desktop because apparently a snapshot of the fstab is taken when the 
desktop device is created and that's that.
Perhaps someone else has already fought this battle and won?