Re: What still uses the block layer?

From: Stefan Richter
Date: Mon Oct 15 2007 - 01:45:22 EST


Rob Landley wrote:
> I was at least attempting to ask a serious question.
...
> Actually, I was going through Documentation/block thinking about making a
> 00-INDEX for it, but my earlier questions of the scsi guys left me with the
> impression that the block layer is _not_ used by the SCSI layer.

Ah, so it was about your documentation work. I already forgot the
context of your previous inquiries. Alas the tone of them already did
some damage, leading to responses like these.

...
> since
> every non-embedded modern storage device I'm aware of has been consumed by
> the SCSI layer (despite none of them actually having a discernably closer
> relationship to SCSI than ATA did)
...

The Linux SCSI subsystems don't consume, they provide services; nowadays
not only for SCSI hardware and SCSI protocols but also for a number of
subsystems whose tasks are similar enough to SCSI subsystems to make the
SCSI core and upper SCSI layer useful to them too.

BTW:
| Now that IDE disks have been rerouted through the scsi layer, SATA goes
| through the scsi layer, USB goes through the scsi layer, firewire goes
| through the scsi layer...

As a side note, SBP-2 is a SCSI transport protocol, hence ieee1394/sbp2
and firewire/fw-sbp2 are Linux SCSI low-level drivers. Anything else
would be just wrong and infeasible in this particular case.
--
Stefan Richter
-=====-=-=== =-=- -====
http://arcgraph.de/sr/
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