The main users of dev_t in the userspace-kernel interface
are mknod and stat. But there is a small collection of
more obscure interfaces that use a dev_t parameter
(like the ustat system call) or a dev_t field in a
parameter struct (for example, struct loopinfo,
struct nfsctl_export, struct dm_ioctl).
It is almost always a mistake to have an interface
with a dev_t field, since nobody knows the size of
a dev_t field. The kernel size differs from the user
space size, the libc5 size differs from the glibc size.
A struct with such a field therefore has unknown size,
the fields following the dev_t field have unknown offset,
and lots of troubles arise.
Such interfaces are broken from the start.
But there are a few and we must deal with them one by one.
One is struct dm_ioctl. Google tells me that it was
noticed already that it defined a broken interface,
and Kevin Corry submitted a patch against 2.5.51.
Today this has not been applied yet.
What is the status? Should I resubmit that patch?
[http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=103956089203199&w=3]
Andries
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 31 2003 - 22:00:23 EST