On Sat 30 Sep 2023 at 11:13:36 (-0400), Stefan Monnier wrote: > Yes, filesystem labels are a different beast because they're stored > inside the partition. The allowed format of that label, where it's > stored within the data, and hence how to read/write it is different for > every filesystem, so it's a big mess. You can't even apply a filesystem > label to a partition that doesn't hold a filesystem, for example.
Well, no, by definition. But, FTR, you can apply LABELs and UUIDs to linux swap partitions even though they don't contain filesystems. You just don't call then /filesystem/ LABELs and UUIDs. Swap LABELs were very useful if you shared swap partitions between different linux installations. When the debian-installer formats the shared swap, you can immediately restore its LABEL. The new installation will refer to the swap by its UUID until you get round to updating the /etc/fstab, but should you reboot to one of the other installations, their reference to swap by LABEL will still work. Cheers, David.
