Re: [RFD w/info-PATCH] device arguments from lookup, partion code

Linus Torvalds
2001-05-20T19:11:29Z

On Sun, 20 May 2001, Russell King wrote:
>
> On Sun, May 20, 2001 at 11:46:33AM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> > Nobody will expect the above to work, and everybody will agree that the
> > above is a BUG if the read() call will actually follow the pointer.
>
> I didn't say anything about read(). I said write(). Obviously it
> wouldn't work for read()!

No, but the point is, everybody _would_ consider it a bug if a
low-level driver "write()" did anything but touched the explicit buffer.

Code like that would not pass through anybody's yuck-o-meter. People would
point fingers and say "That is not a legal write() function". Anybody who
tried to make write() follow pointers would be laughed at as a stupid git.

Anybody who makes "ioctl()" do the same is just following years of
standard practice, and the yuck-o-meter doesn't even register.

THAT is the importance of psychology.

Technology is meaningless. What matters is how people _think_ of it.

Linus