2003-05-01 14:44:20

by Scott Robert Ladd

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Subject: /dev Questions

Why does /dev include devices that do not exist?

Wouldn't it be friendlier to only list existing devices?

Or am I missing something obvious?

--
Scott Robert Ladd
Coyote Gulch Productions (http://www.coyotegulch.com)


2003-05-01 14:56:46

by Michael Buesch

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Subject: Re: /dev Questions

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On Thursday 01 May 2003 16:56, Scott Robert Ladd wrote:
> Why does /dev include devices that do not exist?
>
> Wouldn't it be friendlier to only list existing devices?
>
> Or am I missing something obvious?

yea, you're missing devfs. :)

- --
Regards Michael B?sch
http://www.8ung.at/tuxsoft
17:07:51 up 1:47, 2 users, load average: 1.01, 1.09, 0.99
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2003-05-01 15:47:26

by Greg KH

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Subject: Re: /dev Questions

On Thu, May 01, 2003 at 10:56:12AM -0400, Scott Robert Ladd wrote:
> Why does /dev include devices that do not exist?

/dev is only a bunch of device nodes that knows nothing about any
devices physically present in the system.

devfs creates a dynamic filesystem that is managed by the kernel that
only shows the devices present in the kernel at that point in time.

udev attempts to manage a /dev partition from userspace by watching all
of the hotplug events coming from the kernel that announce device
removal and additions.

Hope this helps,

greg k-h

2003-05-02 14:46:35

by Scott Robert Ladd

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Subject: Re: /dev Questions

Michael Buesch wrote:
> yea, you're missing devfs. :)

Yeah, I finally figured that out. For some reason, I'd missed that item...

...as it is, I think I'll spend some time reading the Documentation
folder. Those text files must be there for some good reason... ;)

..Scott