Re: PUBLIC CHALLENGE: (was RE: devfs again, (was RE: USB device a lloc ation) )

Horst von Brand (vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl)
Fri, 08 Oct 1999 12:53:29 -0400


orc@pell.portland.or.us (david parsons) said:
> In article <linux.kernel.19991007222450.63507@work.bitmover.com>,
> Larry McVoy <lm@bitmover.com> wrote:
> >One last comment: as far as I can tell, most people aren't against devfs,
> >they are against the current implementation. The basic idea is useful at
> >some level. If that is correct, perhaps you're all arguing about nothing
> >(not that I've ever done that; sigh).

> Well, the best way to fix the implementation would then be to
> include it in 2.3.x and let the legion of kernel hackers fix the
> problems with it.

Very true. The easiest way to solve _any_ problem is to have somebody else
do the solving.

Look, the problems with devfs are of two kinds:

- It really can't solve the problems it is supposed to solve

- The implementation might not be up to snuff

I really don't know about the second point, I'd assume that that is fixed
by now (it has been more than a year, isn't it?). If not, they can be
solved by the horde of devfs adicts. No need to involve the kernel hackers
in this.

The first one is the real stumbling block, IMO: devfs tries to solve the
(addmitedly very hard) problem of managing devices (which in turn are just
proxies for the _data_ they contain/convey, which is what you really want
to manage) by placing an automated naming system in between. This just
might be one of the minor building blocks for a solution to the real
problem (assuming the solution goes through "devices" with "names" that
look like "files").

-- 
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                       mailto:vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl
Departamento de Informatica                     Fono: +56 32 654431
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria              +56 32 654239
Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile                Fax:  +56 32 797513

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