Re: PROPOSAL: /proc/dev
James Mastros (root@jennifer-unix.dyn.ml.org)
Sat, 3 Jan 1998 16:13:26 -0500 (EST)
On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, Richard Gooch wrote:
> >
> > I agree. Loading and unloading is 'orrible. The latest thinking is:
> > [ edited ]
> >
> > If a process tries to open() an entry in /dev which does not exist,
> > devfs passes the name of the entry to kerneld. It is up to kerneld to
> > convert filenames to modules (i.e. "ttyS{0,1,2,3}" to "serial").
>
> Sorry, no.
>
> I refuse to use a kernel that depends on kerneld. That's final.
>
> This is a design issue. I don't like a crippled kernel - I want the kernel
> to be stand-alone, and be able to function on its own. It shouldn't do
> policy decisions, but is should also not just flail wildly around when
> something strange happens. That way lies madness (Windows NT to be exact).
Calm down a sec... he was talking about divices that don't exist yet. I
assume that request_module handles kerneld not being loaded.
> Linus
-=- James Mastros
--
Information as a base of power is coming to an end. In the way the world
works tomorrow, the power to *do* *something* *with* *information* is what
will matter.
-=- James Mastros, rephrasing Nugget (David McNett, distributed.net
Big Man)