Re: [PATCH] Fix mmap_kmem (was: [question] What's the difference between /dev/kmem and /dev/mem)

Steven Rostedt
2005-08-12T17:01:16Z

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005, Linus Torvalds wrote:
>
> I'm actually more inclined to try to deprecate /dev/kmem.. I don't think
> anybody has ever really used it except for some rootkits. It only exists
> in the first place because it's historical.
>
> We do need to support /dev/mem for X, but even that might go away some
> day.
>
> So I'd be perfectly happy to fix this, but I'd be even happier if we made
> the whole kmem thing a config variable (maybe even default it to "off").
>

I don't mind it as a config option, but please don't deprecate it. I
use it a lot (actually I've been using /dev/mem until now, that kmem seems
better) for debug tools that I write. That is, user land programs to
monitor various parts of the kernel.

Thanks,

-- Steve