Re: [RFC/Patch] Device Registry

[Tim Jansen <tim@tjansen.de>]

On Sunday 01 April 2001 19:47, you wrote:
> I like the notion of modeling through attributes, but the flat
> namespace bothers me a lot.  Except maybe as a way to
> finesse the namespace structure arguments!  I'd rather see
> separate naming contexts (directories) grouping different
> types of devices.  

I am very interested in ideas how to do this better (especially to have one 
file per device), but there were three reasons for the current implementation:
- it is easier to implement in kernel and user-space
- i dont know how to name the devices. I looked at the way sun did it with 
their device tree and didnt like it, even though I like the 
everything-is-a-file notion, too
- as you said, it is important to be able to find all devices in the system. 
Actually this was my orginal intent, I wanted to get all possible information 
about all devices and display them to the user.

>     - The "Device IDs", if they're unique enough,
>       remove need for a "common/number" attribute.

Agreed.

>     - Physical topology is a much better way to derive
>       the device ids ... in fact, likely the only way that
>       can work in general.  Vendor/product IDs don't
>       belong there, or even device type/class codes.

The reason for vendor/product ID and serial number is that you should not be 
forced to reconfigure your system when you plug your device in another slot 
or hub. I think this is a desirable goal.


>     - For PCI, "device" isn't the right focus, it's the
>       "function" -- devices can have many functions,
>       not necessarily related.  /proc/bus/pci/* has
>       per-function files.

Yes, this is why there are sub-devices. Each function should be displayed as 
a sub-device. I just haven't implemented this yet. 

BTW: don't try the patch version 0.0.1 unless have CONFIG_SMP turned off and 
compile USB support into the kernel, otherwise it will not work. I hope to 
make the next release tomorrow...

bye...



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