# geom meaning



## fluca1978 (Oct 22, 2012)

This is somewhat useless but I'm curious to know if GEOM is an acronym with a particular meaning. I suspect it stands for geometry that is not expressing all the power of this framework.


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## jb_fvwm2 (Oct 23, 2012)

I think it is just a shortened nickname for GEOMETRY as in 'hard disk geometry' -- platters, sector size, etc, and used to encompass all the drivers for the disks. (IANAE).


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## UNIXgod (Oct 23, 2012)

jb_fvwm2 said:
			
		

> I think it is just a shortened nickname for GEOMETRY as in 'hard disk geometry' -- platters, sector size, etc, and used to encompass all the drivers for the disks. (IANAE).



I was going to reply the same thing. It's in all caps though which is why I believe the op may be correct in it somehow being associated with an acronym.

I've always wondered what geli stood for which on the other hand is not in caps.


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## SirDice (Oct 23, 2012)

UNIXgod said:
			
		

> I've always wondered what geli stood for which on the other hand is not in caps.


I'm just guessing here, the g is for GEOM, I'm sure about that. But I'm not entirely sure about 'eli' though, could be Encryption Layer Interface.


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## UNIXgod (Oct 23, 2012)

SirDice said:
			
		

> I'm just guessing here, the g is for GEOM, I'm sure about that. But I'm not entirely sure about 'eli' though, could be Encryption Layer Interface.



Works for me =)


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 24, 2012)

Seems that in the McKusick book he talks about this but I can't reach my copy right now.


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## UNIXgod (Oct 24, 2012)

drhowarddrfine said:
			
		

> Seems that in the McKusick book he talks about this but I can't reach my copy right now.



I one day plan on reading that book. When your arms reach again let us know.


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## fluca1978 (Oct 24, 2012)

UNIXgod said:
			
		

> I've always wondered what geli stood for which on the other hand is not in caps.



Well, even gbde which stands for GEOM Based Disk Encryption is written lowercase.
And to add some confusion, with regard to geli, an encrypted partition is named _.eli_ loosing the initial 'g'...

I've read the McKusick's book and I don't remember there was an explanation for the (supposed) GEOM acronym, but I don't have it right here to check.


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## fluca1978 (Nov 7, 2012)

Maybe I got it: when written upper-case it indicates a _transformation class_, so GBDE is a transformation; when written lower-case it indicates a _class implementation_. Therefore the GBDE set of transformation is performed via the _gbde_ implementation (module). 
With regard to _geli_ vs _eli_, looking at the source code seems that every module lacks the initial GEOM's _G_, thererfore _gmirror_ is named _mirror_ and _geli_ is named _eli_.
So it should be that:
- GELI is a transformation class (i.e., a specification)
- geli is the class implementation (i.e., an implementation)
- eli is the module where the above implementation lives (that is _eli_ implements the _geli_ class).

By the way, GEOM is really the shorten for GEOMetry (got from the geom@ mailing list).

Does it sound good?


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## SirDice (Nov 7, 2012)

Sounds good but still doesn't explain what the 'eli' part actually means. If it's an acronym or not :e


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