>> However, for the sake of argument, let's say we write device drivers
>> and make use of dynamic device numbers. I don't actually see where the
>> problem is.
>
> Ok, consider this scenario:
>
> (1) Some application is using device files over NFS. [If this isn't
> happening, there's no problem with 64 bit device numbers.]
There certainly are other problems: old software of all kinds
> Let's use
> your "exporting root to legacy machines" case...
>
> (2) The system uses SCSI. [This is an example where 64 bit device
> numbers might be good.]
>
> (3) The NFS server gets taken down for a few minutes and disks get added
> to it. [This is the case where the semantics of the device numbers
> become significant.]
>
> NFS semantics suggest that the application freeze while the server
> is unavailable, and everything continue on after it comes back up.
The old clients don't see a devfs at all. They get whatever old /dev
you have provided for them.
Cookies don't break any worse than they do when you move mount points
and client data around on the server. Well, you _are_ moving disks.
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