I for one think it is not clean at all. I think it is a
Microsoft-like path-of-least-resistance hack.
> 2.) devfs reduces the number of devices in /dev to a minimum, thus
> reducing a number of inodes and some hard-disk and RAM. This
> has also the advantage that it is easy to determine which
> devices are in the system.
It stores *ALL* its inodes in RAM, whereas an on-disk /dev never
brings them in if they aren't actively used.
> 3.) devfs optionally introduces a new naming scheme, preferred by
> some linux administrators.
Not something specific to devfs. scsidev has done this for ages.
> 4.) devfs also makes it possible to mount your root on other
> filesystems, like e.g. a CD-ROM or a non-unix filesystem.
You can do that anyway.
> 5.) devfs is also claimed to be faster, in that you do not have to
> go to an external device to get major and minor device numbers.
This speed difference is at the best very slight, and might just as
well be a lose due to the loss of additional kernel RAM. Any device
used with any frequency is going to be cached in the VFS anyway.
-hpa
-- PGP: 2047/2A960705 BA 03 D3 2C 14 A8 A8 BD 1E DF FE 69 EE 35 BD 74 See http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/ for web page and full PGP public key I am Bahá'í -- ask me about it or see http://www.bahai.org/ "To love another person is to see the face of God." -- Les Misérables- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.altern.org/andrebalsa/doc/lkml-faq.html