swap partitions are type 83?

[Allen Kistler]

Gene Czarcinski wrote:
> On Monday 01 June 2009 14:09:35 James Laska wrote:
>> On Mon, 2009-06-01 at 01:57 -0500, Allen Kistler wrote:
>>> It's really late to notice this, I know, but F11 anaconda is creating
>>> swap partitions as type 83 instead of as type 82.
>>>
>>> I know F11 has discarded the concept that partitions must begin and end
>>> on cylinder boundaries, but has it also discarded the concept that swaps
>>> are a separate partition type from file partitions?
>>>
>>> BZ 503457
>>
>> Nice catch! I've confirmed the behavioral change between F10 and F11
>> and added some data to the bug report.
> 
> It may be a change between F10 and F11 but it really matter.  IIRC, for a 
> number of releases now, Fedora Linux looks at the "signature" for a swap file 
> and ignores the 82/83 type.
> 
> Yes, it is a change but ... so what?

"So what" is kind of my question, too, but maybe with a different 
inclination.  I recognize that Fedora works okay with swaps as type 83, but:

1. Has that been a conscious design choice?

    Well, no, apparently it wasn't.  It simply resulted because anaconda
    switched in F11 to using parted for partitioning.  How much anaconda
    should do vs. how much parted should do is being discussed among the
    maintainers.  The rest of us get to wait and watch.

2. Does it introduce inter-operation problems with other distros
    (i.e., dual-boot, etc.) and non-Fedora apps?

    On that, no one seems to know for sure, but there is concern
    that it might.  From the comments in the bug, I'd say type 82 is
    likely to make a return.  Whether it does so by F11 GA is another
    matter.