Re: Device enumeration (was Re: CD writing in future Linux (stirring up a hornets' nest))

From: Olivier Galibert
Date: Tue Feb 14 2006 - 18:30:57 EST


On Tue, Feb 14, 2006 at 05:32:22PM -0500, Rob Landley wrote:
> On Tuesday 14 February 2006 5:40 am, Olivier Galibert wrote:
> > Why not have udev and whatever comes after tell the kernel so that a
> > symlink is done in sysfs? The kernel not deciding policy do not
> > prevent it from storing and giving back userland-provided information.
>
> That wouldn't help us. If userspace generates the info, then userspace can
> drop a note in /dev or something to keep it there.

And all I've been saying is that userspace:

1- should drop a filesystem-level note, not require calling an
executable with a time-varying interface and no real reason to
think it will still be in use in a couple of years

2- should drop it in sysfs, because:
a- if it is there and cleanly defined, and "use this netlink
message to have a symlink created in sysfs pointing to the node you
just created" is clean and simple enough, all the concurrent
device-node generating tools will support it quickly (hotplug,
udev, mdev, maybe others, who knows)
b- nothing requires at that point the devices to be in /dev
c- sysfs already manages all the directory hierarchy or naming you
need to define uniquely a device, why replicate it somewhere else?

At that point I guess I just need to make a patch for the kernel side
and then we'll see.

OG.
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