Re: UUIDs (and devfs and major/minor numbers)

H. Peter Anvin (hpa@transmeta.com)
Fri, 18 Jun 1999 03:27:59 -0700

Alan Cox wrote:
>
> > It basically means you have started in the wrong end of the problem.
> > There is a need for Linux do develop a decent device driver management;
> > unfortunately devfs is a hack to patch it rather than tacking the
> > admittedly hard problem.
>
> I don't think you can call it a hack. There are two ways of handling
> dynamic devices
>
> 1. The kernel gives userspace info and userspace builds a /dev.
>
> 2. The kernel builds a /dev
>
> #2 is devfs
> #1 is devfs with a script walking it.
>
> You can actually rip out chunks of devfs for #2 but the hooks you need to build
> the information database happen to be exactly the ones you need for a full
> devfs
>
> Alan

The problem is that neither the kernel nor user space have the full
information; and I would argue that more of the information is in user
space than in kernel space. Look at what PCMCIA does: not only does it
build /dev in user space, but it also manages kernel modules. I would
hate so see modprobe in the kernel, which would have been one way to
implement kmod.

-hpa

-- 
"The user's computer downloads the ActiveX code and simulates a 'Blue
Screen' crash, a generally benign event most users are familiar with
and that would not necessarily arouse suspicions."
-- Security exploit description on http://www.zks.net/p3/how.asp


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