On 24-May-06, at 9:42 AM, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:

> On Wed, 24 May 2006 11:13:11 -0400, "Greg A. Woods" <woods@weird.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I think the real problem is that autoconf(9) will skip over non- 
>> existant
>> things, esp. the likes of disks, so that when something steps in  
>> to fill
>> their place then the device space changes dynamically.
>>
>> Especially for attachable devices like disks they should always be
>> located in the device space by some representation of their hardware
>> addressable location, regardless of how many addresses before them  
>> are
>> unused.
>>
>> The only sane alternative, at least for disks, and perhaps it's  
>> even far
>> more sane than what I suggest (as it is definitely far more  
>> flexible) is
>> Steve Bellovin's suggestion to use volume labels.
>>
> I thought about your scheme.  The problem is removable media --  
> they can
> move to, say, different USB ports, and different flash disks can  
> show up
> on the same port.

eggzachery... That has more than irritated me on OS X as regards to  
USB com devices.  All of my device programmers implement some USB Com  
interface.  So I have different Makefile's depending on whether I'm  
at home plugged into my USB hub or in some truck reflashing a  
controller....