I for one think it is not clean at all. I think it is a
Microsoft-like path-of-least-resistance hack.
> 2.) devfs reduces the number of devices in /dev to a minimum, thus
> reducing a number of inodes and some hard-disk and RAM. This
> has also the advantage that it is easy to determine which
> devices are in the system.
It stores *ALL* its inodes in RAM, whereas an on-disk /dev never
brings them in if they aren't actively used.
> 3.) devfs optionally introduces a new naming scheme, preferred by
> some linux administrators.
Not something specific to devfs. scsidev has done this for ages.
> 4.) devfs also makes it possible to mount your root on other
> filesystems, like e.g. a CD-ROM or a non-unix filesystem.
You can do that anyway.
> 5.) devfs is also claimed to be faster, in that you do not have to
> go to an external device to get major and minor device numbers.
This speed difference is at the best very slight, and might just as
well be a lose due to the loss of additional kernel RAM. Any device
used with any frequency is going to be cached in the VFS anyway.
-hpa
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