From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 20:07:02 +0100 Subject: Re: [linux-lvm] Writing forward compatible applications using /proc Message-ID: <20010812200701.A657@btconnect.com> References: <20010811235718.A20414@linux.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20010811235718.A20414@linux.com>; from tack@linux.com on Sat, Aug 11, 2001 at 11:57:18PM -0400 From: Joe Thornber Sender: linux-lvm-admin@sistina.com Errors-To: linux-lvm-admin@sistina.com Reply-To: linux-lvm@sistina.com List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: linux-lvm@sistina.com On Sat, Aug 11, 2001 at 11:57:18PM -0400, Jason Tackaberry wrote: > I have some ideas for a comprehensive GUI disk administration tool, and > I am first thinking about some of the issues I'll face regarding > interfacing with controllers, disks, partitions, md, and LVM. > > I am curious if it's a silly idea to write an application that relies on > the data in /proc? Do the kernel developers attempt to keep the data > and format provided in /proc as stable as possible? Or is it fair game > for trivial changes that could break applications that parse it? Should > I use ioctl instead? We won't change the format of the /proc data for the 1.0 series of LVM (including 0.9.1 betas). I do *not* suggest you use the ioctls directly, at some point the ioctl interface will change. > I don't mind having to release a new update to be compatible with a new > format in /proc every once and a while, but if it's constantly a moving > target I may want to look at alternatives. You should also be able to get all the information you need from the tools. > > I also have the same question with LVM related tools. Is it sane to try > to wrap a GUI around lvm tools or is there some API approach that would > be better? I would much rather see people wrapping the tools than using liblvm, in fact liblvm will probably disappear in the future. It would be really good to see a comprehensive LVM gui tool. You should certainly dig up Jorg de Jong's Java based gui to get ideas (http://www.xs4all.nl/~mmj/lvm/), from the screen shots it looks nice. Are you planning to implement in C and gtk ? or use some higher level language ? - Joe