Re: Device naming.

["Karl O. Pinc" <kop@meme.com>]

On 03/11/2010 09:37:13 AM, Alan Grimes wrote:

> The purpose of the /dev path is to allow administrators to access
> devices attached to their systems. Therefore it is sensible for each
> device handle to expose to the administrator essential facts such as
> what type of device it is, which controller it is attached to, the
> position number on that controller and, finally, the identifier of 
> any
> virtual devices which might benefit from being treated separately.

It's not clear to me that that's really what the administrator is
interested in.  The truly essential fact, at least when it comes
to storage devices which is what you seem to be talking about, is what
data is on the device.

> This is insane. How do I know what drives are which when I go to 
> write
> an /etc/fstab? If I make any changes to the controllers in the 
> system,
> designations of existing drives are sure to change. =\

Hence you use a uuid or a fs disk label, which has nothing
to do with what kind of device it is but identifies what's
on the device.   You can even "move the data" (TM)
to a completely different device and not have to 
adjust anything.

If you find there to be "lack of documentation" on the subject
you are looking in the wrong places.  Some might even assume
that you are not trying very hard.  At the very least
it would be politic to ask about where to find documentation
before complaining that there isn't any.  A lot of folks
may decide to simply ignore you, which is not a good way
to get help or try to influence design decisions.

I am in no way an official spokesperson.  I am simply
trying to relate to you what I've found to be true.
Uninformed complaining will be ignored so please decide
what you want to get by emailing and be more focused
in the future.

Regards,

Karl <kop@meme.com>
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                 -- Robert A. Heinlein