Re: [RFC PATCH 2/9] ntsync: Reserve a minor device number and ioctl range.

Elizabeth Figura
2024-01-24T17:59:15Z

On Wednesday, 24 January 2024 06:32:13 CST Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 09:43:09PM -0600, Elizabeth Figura wrote:
> > > Why do you need a fixed minor number? Can't your userspace handle
> > > dynamic numbers? What systems require a static value?
> >
> > I believe I added this because it's necessary for MODULE_ALIAS (and, more
> > broadly, because I was following the example of vaguely comparable devices
> > like /dev/loop-control). I suppose I could instead just remove MODULE_ALIAS
> > (or even remove the ability to compile ntsync as a module entirely).
>
> Do you really need MODULE_ALIAS()? Having it for char devices to be
> auto-loaded is not generally considered a good idea anymore as systems
> should have the module loaded before userspace goes and asks for it.
>
> It also reduces suprises when any random userspace program can cause
> kernel modules to be loaded for no real reason.

I think there's no reason we can't make loading the system's problem. I'll remove it in v2.