[RFC][5/11][MANUX] Kernel compatibility : major/minor numbers

Emmanuel Colbus
2014-04-15T13:50:14Z

Now, back to the filesystem...

In order to associate devices to their files, the Linux kernel uses
their major and minor numbers. However, mine doesn't; instead, I've
attributed myself a single group of values (major=0, minor=0, for both
character-mode and block-mode special files), with the meaning (for the
userspace) "you cannot identify the content of this file based on its
major and minor numbers".

As for my kernel, there is a syscall to associate such files with their
proper peripherals (asper(2)), after which it internally identifies them
using their inode and partition numbers; as for userspace, it has no
choice but to use their names, as usual.

Do you have any objection to my taking of these values?

Emmanuel