Re: [PATCH] /dev/time for Linux, inspired by Plan 9

J.R. Mauro
2009-03-08T16:03:47Z

On 3/7/09, Greg KH <greg@kroah.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 07, 2009 at 12:43:43AM -0500, J.R. Mauro wrote:
>> On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Greg KH <greg@kroah.com> wrote:
>> > On Tue, Mar 03, 2009 at 09:06:46PM -0600, Christopher Brannon wrote:
>> >> Under Plan 9 from Bell Labs, one queries or sets the system clock by
>> >> reading or writing text strings to a special file named /dev/time.
>> >> I implemented such a facility for Linux. A read of /dev/time produces
>> >> four decimal numbers: epoch seconds, nanoseconds since start of epoch,
>> >> jiffies since boot, and jiffies per second. Writing a decimal number
>> >> to
>> >> /dev/time sets the system clock to the given number of epoch seconds.
>> >> Anyone who is permitted to write to /dev/time may set the clock.
>> >> Granting this privilege becomes as easy as modifying groups and file
>> >> permissions.
>> >>
>> >> Signed-off-by: Christopher Brannon <cmbrannon@cox.net>
>> >
>> > I'm starting to see a few plan9 specific devices being proposed
>> > recently, with one making it into the staging tree recently (the p9auth
>> > interface). Should we just start lumping them all together so to keep
>> > them in one place? drivers/plan9/ ?
>>
>> That might be a good idea, assuming it doesn't start up a flamewar.
>
> I don't think if we keep it all in one place, it would.
>
>> The Glendix folks are working hard to get a lot of these device files
>> and filesystems implemented and it would be nice to see them have a
>> place to feel welcome.
>>
>> Would it be very involved to get a little sandbox for these things?
>
> drivers/plan9 looks like a nice place to me, any objections?
>

Sounds good to keep this all together, as more things come in. We
don't want to male a mess :-)
> thanks,
>
> greg k-h
>