Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 08 Jun 1999 12:59:55 -0700 | From | "H. Peter Anvin" <> | Subject | Re: Migrating to larger numbers |
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Riley Williams wrote: > > Hi Peter. > > >>> I wonder if it might be possible to do something special for > >>> NFS, like maybe make for NFS consumption a special file system > >>> where specific 64 bit device numbers are mapped into a 32 bit > >>> range... [And didn't I already see some posts about device > >>> number aliasing?] > > >> Nobody else has needed more than 32bits. Show me a case it is > >> needed and an OS that suffers from using 32bits. Then you can > >> argue about ruining NFS interoperability for the sake of some > >> airy number guessing. > > > The SCSI people are the main people that have asked for it. > > > Note that I didn't say that we should do this... I only said > > let's keep the remaining bits in our back pocket as spares; I > > wasn't proposing we would actively use them. > > So what you're basically suggeesting is that we insert a reserved > 32-bit field next to the proposed 32-bit one in all the relevant > structures so we can expand at a future date if necessary without > mangling all the offsets and causing another round of incompatible > software... > > Best wishes from Riley. >
Yes, basically (actually I'm proposing the bits be interspersed.)
-hpa
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