Re: [PATCH] driver core: add uid and gid to devtmpfs

[Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Sat, Apr 06, 2013 at 06:45:12PM +0100, Al Viro wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 06, 2013 at 10:26:12AM -0700, Greg KH wrote:
> 
> > Why not?  "closed" systems, like Android and other embedded systems,
> > have "assigned" uid and gid values that never change.  Right now they
> > have to have a horrible shell-script to set these values in devtmpfs
> > when the device shows up to the needed numbers.  This tiny patch gets
> > rid of that shell script entirely, allowing them to specify it from the
> > kernel as needed.
> 
> What's to stop them from using static /dev?  Has an extra benefit of
> getting rid of devtmpfs shite completely...

True, it would, but they like using devtmpfs :)

This change also allows systems that have "control" devices to properly
be able to pass in the uid for the device they are creating, like rawctl
(which I know is "obsolete"), and probably dm and lvm.  I thought loop
devices might also want this, as they can now be created by normal
users, but I don't think that's needed for them.

thanks,

greg k-h