From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262232AbULQXvE (ORCPT ); Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:51:04 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262235AbULQXvD (ORCPT ); Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:51:03 -0500 Received: from e6.ny.us.ibm.com ([32.97.182.146]:46537 "EHLO e6.ny.us.ibm.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262232AbULQXvA (ORCPT ); Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:51:00 -0500 Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 15:48:54 -0800 From: Greg KH To: Chris Friesen Cc: Al Hooton , LKML Subject: Re: ioctl assignment strategy? Message-ID: <20041217234854.GA24506@kroah.com> References: <1103067067.2826.92.camel@chatsworth.hootons.org> <20041215004620.GA15850@kroah.com> <41C04FFA.6010407@nortelnetworks.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <41C04FFA.6010407@nortelnetworks.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, Dec 15, 2004 at 08:53:46AM -0600, Chris Friesen wrote: > Greg KH wrote: > > >Minor one coming, why do you want to use an ioctl? ioctls are generally > >frowned upon these days, and trying to add a new one is a tough and > >arduous process, that is not for the weak, or faint of heart. > > Just curious--what other options would you suggest for arbitrary char > devices to allow for control that doesn't fit nicely into the read/write > paradigm? Rethink the way you want to control your device. Seriously, a lot of ioctls can be broken down into single device files, single sysfs files, or other such things (a whole new fs as a last resort too.) So, what does your ioctls do? thanks, greg k-h