> > And there can be a lot more such files. Though that 4KB limit
> > may become an issue at some point.
>
> I doubt it, we are talking one value per file here. I can't see any USB
> driver wanting to go over 4Kb for 1 value (and if it does, I'll change
> it :)
I could see descriptors getting that large, particularly if
they're turned from binary form into text. I seem to recall
Patrick was anticipating troubles with that 4K limit, at
some point.
> > Also, one could argue that each USB function ("interface")
> > should be presented as an individual device, just like each PCI
> > function is handled ... after all, USB drivers bind to interfaces,
> > not devices, and this is the "driver" FS! :)
>
> No, I'll say that we need to stay one physical device per device in the
> tree.
But we aren't that way today. Examples:
- Take a multifunction PCI card ("physical device") and plug it in.
Each function shows up as another "logical device" in the tree.
Each such logical device gets one driver.
- Take a composite USB device ("physical device", like a keyboard
with hub) and plug it in. Each logical device shows up separately.
Each such logical device gets one driver.
The issue with USB is that it's got a much more complex configuration
model, not all of which is well supported yet in Linux. There's a type
of device which is handled inconsistently:
- Take a multiple-interface USB device ("physical device") and
plug it in. It's presented as one logical device. BUT (!!) such
devices need MULTIPLE drivers!! (Example: speaker with
built in volume control, needs audio and HID drivers.)
I was observing that we have a chance to make things consistent.
In my experience, that's normally a good thing. Similarly, I think USB
should handle configurations more as first class entities. Changing
a device's config doesn't trigger driver rebinding, for example; we're
in luck, so far, that most devices don't have many configurations.
> If you want to do an interface tree, let's put that in usbfs,
> where it belongs :)
Ah, but changing usbfs is impractical at this point since lots of
userspace programs rely on it not changing. Which is why I
was pointing this out in the context of driverfs, which can still
be improved in such ways ... "usbdevfs" was always advertised
as "preliminary", anyway! :)
- Dave
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 07 2002 - 21:00:24 EST