Re: [RFC PATCH] USB: remove CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS

[Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 01:48:06PM +0800, Jeff Chua wrote:
> On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 5:52 AM, Greg Kroah-Hartman
> <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
> > On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 11:55:16PM +0800, Jeff Chua wrote:
> >> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 11:12 PM, Greg Kroah-Hartman
> >> <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
> >> > On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 11:06:45AM -0400, Alan Stern wrote:
> >> >> On Wed, 25 Apr 2012, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > This option has been deprecated for many years now, and no userspace
> >> >> > tools use it anymore, so it should be safe to finally remove it.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Reported-by: Kay Sievers <kay@vrfy.org>
> >> >> > Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Anyone object to me queuing this up for the 3.5 kernel release?
> >> >>
> >> >> I'm not sure about this.  There are a few systems still floating around
> >> >> that don't use udev; on those systems /proc/bus/usb is the only way for
> >> >> user programs to control USB devices.  Admittedly, I have no idea
> >> >> whether any such systems will be using 3.5 or later kernels...
> >> >
> >> > They don't have to use udev, they can use devtmpfs (which is what the
> >> > majority of embedded systems use today), or they can just use static
> >> > device nodes to get access to these devices, the char node is still
> >> > present, we aren't getting rid of them at all.
> >>
> >> Looks like vmware is breaking. Can't find any usb devices. I'm not using udev.
> >
> > vmware doesn't use usbfs, otherwise how would it be working on all of
> > the systems out there that haven't mounted usbfs for years?
> >
> > What exactly broke?  What version of vmware are you using, and is the
> > problem in the guest or host?
> >
> > We delayed other usbfs changes for years due to vmware "issues", it
> > wouldn't be the first time we've had to handle this :(
> 
> 
> VMWare workstation 8.0.3
> 
> # vmware-usbarbitrator -f --info
> DICT       product.buildNumber = 703057
> DICT           product.version = 8.0.3
> DICT workstation.product.version = 8.0.3
> DICT              product.name = VMware Workstation
> VMware USB Arbitration Service Version 8.4.19
> USB: Unable to open "/proc/bus/usb/devices" (No such file or directory).
> No USB enumerator!

Ok, I have no idea what any of this means.

What host os are you using that does not have udev in it?

What client os are you using that wants access to the USB ports that is
not working?  Is this the latest version of vmware (hint, I have no idea
what their version numbering is, you are going to have to look that up,
but I know they have fixed stuff like this in their newer releases.)

What release of the host os are you running?

If you aren't using udev, what are you using for your static device
nodes?

If you are using static device nodes, why don't you have the /dev/usb/
nodes on your system (i.e. why didn't your distro create them for you?)

> If I revert back to git pull 3 years earlier, it works.

A git pull of a 3 year old kernel?  What are you talking about here?

totally confused,

greg k-h