Re: Flexible Console open (really little patch)

Clifford Wolf (clifford@clifford.at)
Mon, 17 Aug 1998 22:36:04 +0200 (MEST)


On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, david wrote:

> >> This is a broken patch for a broken problem. Please, don't put this
> >> kind of crud in the kernel.
> >>
> >> -hpa
> >
> > I don't think so. It solves a problem at a very easy way and does not
> > hurt anyone. We support a few paths for the init program - why don't
> > be flexible with the path of /dev/console? (Specialy if there is a good
> > reason for: it's possible that /dev will be mounted later from a boot
> > script.)
>
> If the devfs "mount at boot time" option hasn't been selected, then the
> user should select it. Making your root filesystem support a module
> follows the same logic.
>
> Let's do things the Right Way (TM) instead of hacking things into our
> kernel. This kind of hacking eventually leads to an "alternative this or
> that" all over the place.

No - the idea is more to make it possible for the user to see all the
warning messages generated by the boot scripts - so he can turn the option
on. There is another point for allowing /etc/console: if the kernel opens
/etc/console instead of /dev/console it's possible to unmount /dev from
the single-user-mode (if you use /etc/console as tty). If one uses
/dev/console, the device would be busy as long as init runs - so one could
never unmount /dev (e.g. to see what's in /dev/ if devfs is not mounted).

- clifford

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Clifford Wolf
magnet - Internet at Work IRC: efnet / clifford
Director of System Development http://www.clifford.at/
e-mail: c.wolf@magnet.at email: god@clifford.at

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