Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265306AbUADWhP (ORCPT ); Sun, 4 Jan 2004 17:37:15 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265351AbUADWhP (ORCPT ); Sun, 4 Jan 2004 17:37:15 -0500 Received: from parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk ([195.92.249.252]:58507 "EHLO www.linux.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S265306AbUADWhO (ORCPT ); Sun, 4 Jan 2004 17:37:14 -0500 Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 22:37:10 +0000 From: viro@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk To: Andries Brouwer Cc: Linus Torvalds , Rob Love , rob@landley.net, Pascal Schmidt , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Greg KH Subject: Re: udev and devfs - The final word Message-ID: <20040104223710.GY4176@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk> References: <20040103141029.B3393@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <20040104000840.A3625@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <20040104034934.A3669@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <20040104142111.A11279@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <20040104230104.A11439@pclin040.win.tue.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040104230104.A11439@pclin040.win.tue.nl> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1044 Lines: 24 On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 11:01:04PM +0100, Andries Brouwer wrote: > A common Unix idiom is testing for the identity > of two files by comparing st_ino and st_dev. > A broken idiom? No, just your usual highly selective reading. First of all, that idiom relies only on different ->s_dev *among* *currently* *mounted* *filesystems*. In part that has anything to do with devices, it means only one thing: Any two different block devices that are both currently opened by the kernel and are both alive must have different device numbers. Note the "are alive" part - we can even allow reuse of device numbers as long as we make sure that stat() will fail on filesystems mounted from dead ones. Now, care to explain how preserving aforementioned common Unix idiom is related to your expostulations? - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/