Re: [PATCH] struct char_device

[Andries.Brouwer@cwi.nl]

Alexander Viro writes:

> patch below adds the missing half of kdev_t -
> for block devices we already have a unique pointer
> and that adds a similar animal for character devices.

Very good.
(Of course I did precisely the same, but am a bit slower in
submitting things during a stable series or code freeze.)

One remark, repeating what I wrote on some web page:
-----
A struct block_device provides the connection between a device number
and a struct block_device_operations. 
...
Clearly, we also want to associate a struct char_device_operations
to a character device number. When we do this, all bdev code will
have to be duplicated for cdev, so there seems no point in having
bdev code - kdev, for both bdev and cdev, seems more elegant. 
-----

And a second remark: don't forget that presently the point where
bdev is introduced is not quite right. We must only introduce it
when we really have a device, not when there only is a device
number (like on a mknod call).

Andries