how to have hal be selective

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 18:59:51 -0600 (CST), Brian Millett
<bpm at ec-group.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello, I just purchased a DVD+-RW drive that I put into a usb 2.0
> enclosure.  The manufacture is:
> 
> scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
>   Vendor: MAD DOG   Model: MD-16XDVD9        Rev: 2.F6
>   Type:   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI revision: 02
> 
> It looks like to burn anything (dvd/cd) with this external device, I have
> to stop haldaemon.  If I do not, then I have coasters.
> 
> My question is, is there any way to have hal ignore this device when a
> blank cd/dvd is inserted?  I, ofcourse, would want hal to mount any valid
> disk that is inserted.

Hal doesnt mount anything by itself.... 
maybe you are refering to gnome-volume-manager, which interacts with
hal to mount storage devices and deal with removable media when
inserted.. assuming you are running gnome.  My understanding is, at
least in gnome, it should be enough to disable gnome-volume-manager's
handling of blank writable dvd/cd media.

Of course disabling hal completely has the side-effect of preventing
gnome-volume-manager from doing anything useful, since
gnome-volume-manager relies on hal running to sense hardware. But
based on my admittedly limited understanding of how the software stack
built up around hal works, the problem i think you are describing is
with gnome-volume-manager  or whatever kde's equivlant is and not with
hal specifically.

-jef