Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 11 Aug 1998 15:51:01 -0500 (CDT) | From | Shawn Leas <> | Subject | Re: DevFS vs. normal /dev (was DEVFSv50 and /dev/fb? (or /dev/fb/? ???)) |
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On Tue, 11 Aug 1998, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> Gee... This is begining to sound more and more like the way > Solaris does dynamic devices with their "/devices" directory being > built from driver information and tons and tons of symlinks from the > /dev directory to the real devices in the /devices directory. Works > great, as long as everything works right. :-( When something gets > screwy you can boot the system back up with a "-r" option to rebuild > the devices area. Don't know how much all those symlinks add to the > reputation of "Slowlaris" though. If that's the road we are starting > to walk down, I stick with the old style /dev directory and mknod, > thank you.
What will it hurt to just try it???
> They're actually not using an idea like devfs but are using > configuration files for all of their drivers. They then use the > drivers and the configuration files during a rebuild to autobuild > the /devices directory. That can be triggered by either new hardware > or the -r option to the boot command. Having done device drivers > for SunOS 4.x and Solaris (SunOS 5.x), sometimes I think they ended > up with the worst of both possible worlds when they did that.
I think your view is just a little warped by not having used it. I'm not a "POD PERSON", I am not under some mind control device Richard has implanted. Just try it, the first one's free! (hehehe)
> That's also why I'm somewhat sceptical about devfs. While it > may well be very useful for some things, I can see trouble in practice > and I doubt it will ever totally replace the normal /dev directory. > But it's also very hard to predict where the problems will be until > it gets more use, so I'm interested in seeing it in the kernel as an > option (but hey - I was for seeing Solar Designers security patches > in the kernel and that got nowhere after a very similar religious > debate). I could be wrong, but I suspect devil's in those details...
Noone is suggesting that this be done. We just want to have it as a REAL option for users to try at will, and I've seen more dangerous and less stable features added to developement kernels...
-Shawn <=========== America Held Hostage ===========> Day 2029 for the poor and the middle class. Day 2048 for the rich and the dead. 893 days remaining in the Raw Deal. <============================================>
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