Re: devfs vs udev, thoughts from a devfs user

Christian Borntraeger
2004-02-14T09:13:57Z

Mike Bell wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 13, 2004 at 01:19:20PM -0800, Greg KH wrote:
> > > That's a pretty minor difference, from the kernel's point of view.
> > > It's basically putting the same numbers in different fields.
> >
> > Heh, that's a HUGE difference!
>
> Only from userspace's point of view. To the kernel, it's basically the
> same thing.

No. Giving a major and minor number is simple.
Creating a device node means: you have to define a policy. Now the kernel
has to think about:
- user id
- group id
- access rights
- naming

These are the reasons why devfsd was/is necessary for devfs.
A Kernel should only enforce a policy, it should not define it.

cheers

Christian