Re: TTY changes to 2.1.65

Theodore Y. Ts'o (tytso@MIT.EDU)
Tue, 25 Nov 1997 19:17:46 -0500


From: Jes Degn Soerensen <jds@kom.auc.dk>
Date: 24 Nov 1997 18:16:42 +0100

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.

It's something to think about, but doing this in a way that doesn't
break compatibility with either (a) existing systems' /dev directories
and (b) all of the existing tty device drivers will be a wee bit
challenging. It'll probably be a while before I get to this one,
actually.

I can definitely understand why something like this would be desireable
on certain platforms, though.

- Ted