What is the format/syntax for /etc/fstab.order ?

I am trying to upgrade my system from RH7.3 to CentOS 4.3, but I am
hitting a somewhat major snag.

A little background about my system:

I have this Dell two disk hot-swap chassis (which I got off E-Bay). I
have three FUJITSU Model: MAJ3364MC disks -- 36gig Ultra2-LVD SCA SCSI
disks:

Disk one: working RH 7.3 system disk (in my system as /dev/sda)
Disk two: working *copy* of disk one (in my system as /dev/sdb)
Disk three: A fresh install of CentOS 4.3.

All three disks have identical partition tables and all of the
partitions (except some system partitions) have *identical* volume
labels. RH 7.3 (Kernel 2.4.18-3) and mount (2.11n) have no problem
with the duplicate labels. Mount just uses the first file system label
it sees (eg the one on /dev/sda). The reason the file system have the
same labels is in the event the main system disk dies, I can boot off
the backup disk -- both disks have the same /etc/fstab file. If one
random partition dies on one disk, I can boot up using the 'spare' copy
of that one partition.

CentOS, with a 2.6<mumble> kernel, barfs: it complains about the
duplicate labels and does not mount anything.

The man page for mount under CentOS 4.3 talks about this saying that a
file named /etc/fstab.order can be used to give priority to devices:

DUPLICATE LABELS
mount includes support for systems where same partition is shared
between different devices (e.g. multipath kernel drivers). In particu-
lar case when mounting device by LABEL, mount command reports problem
with duplicate labels. You can define priority of devices in file
/etc/fstab.order as simple list of devices. The devices listed in this
file have greater priority than odd devices. Devices in configuration
file have descending priority.


I cannot find documentation on the proper format for the
/etc/fstab.order file. I know it is not device names, one per line
(I've tried that and it has no effect).

Right now, not being able to boot up with the backup disk installed is
stopping me from upgrading -- the backup disk has all of the configuration
stuff (like usernames/passwords, ppp login information, my local LANs
DNS set up and other stuff like that).

I suppose I can just stay with RH 7.3 indefinitely (or at least as long
as it is supported by the Fedora Legacy project), but I figure I really
ought to upgrade -- this upgrade is long overdue.

--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software -- Linux Installation and Administration
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Web Hosting, with CGI and Database
heller@xxxxxxxxxxxx -- Contract Programming: C/C++, Tcl/Tk

.

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