Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 17 Apr 1997 10:07:36 -0400 (EDT) | From | DUPRE Christophe <> | Subject | Re: procfs problems |
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On Tue, 15 Apr 1997, Dan Hollis wrote:
> Looking at /proc/pci, it got me to thinking about kernel bloat :-) If we > were to take all the text out of pci.c and put it in an external program > (call it "pciconfig" or "lspci") and have /proc/pci just output hex > numbers, we could save several kilobytes off the size of the kernel. It > would also probably be easier for programs to parse /proc/pci if they > needed configuration information.
Let me object on this : most things in /proc must be human-readable without looking up a manpage. I for one often use this information while setting up a system, using a boot/root disk. I don't what to add any software to my root disk which is already packed. I often use /proc/pci to know the io address of a network card to insmod the driver to do an nfs install... If the text was to suddenly disappear from /proc/pci, I don't know how I could use it. Remember, it's when all hell breaks loose that /proc is the most usefull (and to monitor the system in normal conditions, agreed). And there are not many Ks of text in that file... Well, most of it is dynamically produced anyway.
Christophe Dupre Universite de Montreal Montreal, Qc, Canada "Nous ne sommes pas libres de ne pas etre libres, nous sommes obliges de l'etre" - Fernando Savater
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCS d- s:++ a-- C++(+++) UL++++$ UISV++ P+++ L+++ !E---- W+++$ N+ o? K w--- O M- V-- PS+ PE+ Y+ PGP+ t+ 5++ X+ R+ tv+ b++ DI- D G+ e>++ h- r++ z+ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
#include <disclaimer.h>
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