Messages in this thread | | | From | (Daniel Quinlan) | Subject | Re: IDEA for CD auto eject/(dis)mount | Date | 30 Mar 1996 04:49:15 -0500 |
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Thomas R Schar <thomas@cs.adelaide.edu.au> writes:
> Anyway, the proposal we were considering was a general method of > mounting removable media; floppies as well as cd's. it would be neat > if there was some sort of hotkey for certain devices like /dev/fd0, > and /dev/cdrom so that all you would have to do is press like > alt-insert or something, and it would [...]
Lots of things are neat, but that doesn't mean they should be put into the kernel. Such an elaborate scheme should be part of a user-level program.
I've always been very annoyed whenever a cdrom driver under Linux that autoejects on unmounting by *default*. It's a very bad default to have for these reasons:
1. Not all cdroms can be ejected (by either software or mechanics) so behavior is inconsistent across different cdroms. 2. It's often a bad idea: - Autoejecting cdroms at remote machines that are difficult to access. - Invites someone to "borrow" a cd when you're working remotely. - Machines opening/closing trays at system shutdown/reboot. 3. It's not standard behavior. All other operating systems require a specific "eject" action to be taken: System 7, DOS, Solaris, etc.
But, it would be nice if every cdrom driver under Linux share an ioctl or system call to "eject" unmounted removable (block) devices that support ejection (and whatever the opposite of ejection is). Then, a mount option could be added to activate move the tray (in the appropriate direction) on mounting or unmounting. It could be placed in /etc/fstab or on the command line (and the "don't do it" option could be added when shutting a system down).
This also helps keep control of the autoeject behavior under system administrator control, not a device driver, nor the person who compiled the kernel.
Dan -- Daniel Quinlan Member of the League for Programming Freedom quinlan@bucknell.edu
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