Comment 1 for bug 159851

We can't easily keep the comments up-to-date; the device names could potentially change frequently, especially when removable disks are involved.

However, the comments were unnecessarily brief, and this was definitely a problem. As of Jaunty, instead of simply "# /dev/sda1", you'll get "# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation". I hope this helps to resolve the confusion. There's also now a comment at the top of the file as follows:

  # Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
  # device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
  # that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).

partman-target (58ubuntu2) jaunty; urgency=low

  * /media must be on the root file system (although subdirectories may be
    mounted separately), since the installer relies on being able to mount
    things like /media/cdrom during installation. Check this (LP: #16871).
  * Expand comment above each UUID-mounted partition, based on a suggestion
    by Daniel Pocock in Debian #509378.
  * Add a note about 'vol_id --uuid' to the top of /etc/fstab; thanks to
    Chris Cheney for the suggestion (LP: #221474).

 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:18:06 +0000