Re: My $0.02 on devd and devfs

Horst von Brand (vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl)
Thu, 14 Oct 1999 08:42:22 -0300


orc@pell.portland.or.us (david parsons) said:

[...]

> I think there may be a bit of confusion here. The PC-style ports
> already exist, and Linux already handles them. If I build a modular
> kernel (which I do), the current version of Linux will already do the
> fbm needed to load the drivers and give me access. If I use a
> devfs, current 2.3.x's will do the fbm needed to load the drivers and
> give me access without any changes to userland. But if I use devd as
> described in recent email on the kernel list, I either have to have
> the device nodes already installed or I have to bloat my kernel with
> the detection parts of the drivers or I have to build the drivers
> into the kernel.

The described kernel will notify devd to create the nodes when they show
up, i.e., on boot or when the device is plugged in. Any dynamic /dev will
have to include this exact functionality somehow, plus a chunk of devd and
the space for /dev in the kernel. And then you need special provisions to
handle persistence. Modules have nothing at all to do with this. The bloat
argument is exactly the other way around.

-- 
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                       mailto:vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl
Departamento de Informatica                     Fono: +56 32 654431
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria              +56 32 654239
Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile                Fax:  +56 32 797513

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