Re: TTY changes to 2.1.65

Jes Degn Soerensen (jds@kom.auc.dk)
24 Nov 1997 18:16:42 +0100


>>>>> "Tytso" == tytso <tytso@mit.edu> writes:

Tytso> Hi Linus, The following patches fix a few bugs in the serial
Tytso> driver, as well as starts a process of taking common
Tytso> functionality which is being done in each tty low-level driver,
Tytso> and moves it up to the high-level tty driver. The strategy
Tytso> which is followed is much like the one followed by the SCSI
Tytso> layer --- there are high-level functions which handle the
Tytso> common case which are available to the low-level driver, but
Tytso> each low-level driver is always free to do its own thing if it
Tytso> needs to do so for some reason.

Wheeeh, am I glad to see these patches.

Another thing I would like to see in the generic code is an interface
to register serial drivers instead of the current approach where every
serial driver is assigned its own major.

I see no reason for wasting all these majors on this and IMHO it is a
lot better to use dynamic allocation of serial devices, thus if one
replaces a serial board with a different brand it is not necessary to
go and change the entire software setup. I know this doesn't matter so
much on PC's where 99% of the serial boards are 16cx50 compatible, but
on systems where the serial boards are totally different this is a bit
annoying.

Jes