Re: major number unification?

[David Brownlee <abs%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007, Tim Rightnour wrote:

> So.. one of the few things that keeps us from having a shared ppc userland
> (completely shared) is the major numbers are all different from port to port.
> Would it be possible to maybe look into unifying some of these majors into a
> single majors file for all the ppc ports?
>
> I realize there will be a bit of a flag day for some ports, but many of the
> ports haven't worked in a long time anyway, so if we could do it before they
> start working and getting users, it might be a good time.
>
> macppc has the most users and history, so perhaps we base it on that one?

        As a possible alternative:

        We already have logic in init to use an mfs /dev if /dev/console
        is missing, so one option would be to allocate all new MI major
        numbers, and adjust the init /dev/console check to also fire if
        /dev/console is the old MD major.

        Compatability with the old MD majors is left in the kernels under
        COMPAT_40 (or similar).

        Could even migrate across to the new scheme port by port if
        wanted.


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