gooch> If a process tries to open() an entry in /dev which does not exist,
gooch> devfs passes the name of the entry to kerneld. It is up to kerneld to
gooch> convert filenames to modules (i.e. "ttyS{0,1,2,3}" to "serial").
And Linus Torvalds responds:
torvalds> Sorry, no.
torvalds>
torvalds> I refuse to use a kernel that depends on kerneld. That's final.
Linus, I think you are mis-understanding Richard's proposal.
If a driver is resident, it will register its names, and the entry in
/dev will exist, and a process can open it. Similarly, at the time a
modular driver is inserted, it will register its entries, and a process
can open it. No messages are sent and no kerneld is involved.
Devfs would send a kerneld message when a process opens a *non-existent*
file. This is similar to the existing code in get_fops that invokes
kerneld when tb[major].fops == 0.
Michael Chastain
<mailto:mec@shout.net>
"love without fear"