Subject: Re: 32 bit dev_t, Revision 2
To: None <tech-kern@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Todd Vierling <tv@NetBSD.ORG>
List: tech-kern
Date: 01/11/1998 21:18:57
On Sun, 11 Jan 1998, Paul A Vixie wrote:

: until today i thought that netbsd kernel people were experienced internet
: users.  i now realize that the expertise here runs toward kernel bitting
: and away from e-mail headers.  that is to say, when you reply to a thread
: on the mailing list, please edit the headers so that everybody who has ever
: participated in the thread doesn't have to see two copies of your message.

procmail plus formail -D?  :)  I do that typically for netbsd lists because
of how long the messages sometimes take to get through the list remailers. 
I see only one copy cause I filter on message ID.  I'll make sure to edit
the headers to please you and any others in the thread who care about it.... 

(Speaking of which, I could plug the fact that I still have NetBSD list
remailers on duh.org with near zero turnaround; some kind souls could move
there to reduce the list load.... listserv@duh.org, "subscribe listname")

: back on topic, can someone 'splain to me why device special files are still
: inside a UFS/FFS container with special "MAKEDEV" scripts?  if we can do
: /proc it seems to me that /dev can be a special file system whose entries
: are _made_ at successful probe time, using monotonically increasing dev_t's
: with an opaque internal structure?  ted says this has been done in some
: form.

It's been done before in other OS's (FreeBSD), and the drawbacks have been
pointed out (not wanting some device nodes to exist, wanting custom
permissions on some device nodes...) I'd suggest having the availability of
both.

=====
===== Todd Vierling (Personal tv@pobox.com) =====
== "There's a myth that there is a scarcity of justice to go around, so
== that if we extend justice to 'those people,' it will somehow erode the
== quality of justice everyone else receives."  -- Maria Price