Re: Moving away from /dev ?
On Thu, 15 Apr 1999, Adam Sampson wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 14, 1999 at 09:01:27PM -0400, Kevin S. Ho wrote:
> > Would there be any interest in having GNU Mach and Hurd move way from
> > /dev into having a kernel-provided translator that exports kernel symbols
> > including devices?
> Very much so. This would appear to be the "obvious" way to go---it removes
> any need for MAKEDEV scripts and similar kludges, plus you can check what
> drivers you've got installed by doing a "ls /dev".
What do we think are the appropriate means for the kernel to export
such symbols? That is, what underlying mechanism should we use?
Also, would we advoate the use of user-level device drivers in this case?
we could provide a solaris syntax style /devices interfaces that does
not contain any drivers - just a hole for hardware access for a device to
talk into.
settrans -a /dev/ether/0 /bin/drivers/fxp_driver
/devices/pci@1f,0/0x4000
or something like that - this way the kernel needs not know about any
of the devices - it merely provides an interface by which they can
gain hardware access.
perhaps like:
settrans -a /dev/rs232/0 /bin/drivers/rs232_driver
/devices/isa@1/port/0x3f8 /devices/isa@1/irq/4
This seems to be the most simple and most elegant - but it requirings
changing the device driver interrface.
Kevin Ho
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