Re: Why do we need /dev

["Jinesh K J" <jineshkj.newsletters@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/10/06, Raseel Bhagat <raseelbhagat@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> It was always possible to assign major device numbers dynamically.
> I think what Jinesh wants to point out that , the parameer _dev itself
> should not be used by driver developers.
> It is something that should be obvious for the developer and treated
> as a black-box , so to speak.
Yes, Exactly!

> So is POSIX compiancy the ONLY reason the major and minor numebrs are present  ?
This is what I'm also wondering. Does POSIX say that there need to be
major and minor numbers - if it doesn't, then there's no problem in
shifting towards a blackbox concept for it.

Even if POSIX insists upon having device files in /dev, may be what we
can do is that we can keep symbolic links inside the directory. The
links may point to some entry in sysfs. I think managing symbolic
links would be easier for udev than to create device nodes.

But if the POSIX insists upon having device files with major,minor
numbers in /dev directory, then I'm sorry for coining this idea. May
be we have to wait some time till POSIX gets a revision.

Jinesh.

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