Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263984AbUDPXnw (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Apr 2004 19:43:52 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263576AbUDPXmR (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Apr 2004 19:42:17 -0400 Received: from mail.kroah.org ([65.200.24.183]:399 "EHLO perch.kroah.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S263895AbUDPXk4 (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Apr 2004 19:40:56 -0400 Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 15:37:32 -0700 From: Greg KH To: viro@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk Cc: Maneesh Soni , LKML Subject: Re: [RFC] fix sysfs symlinks Message-ID: <20040416223732.GC21701@kroah.com> References: <20040413124037.GA21637@in.ibm.com> <20040413133615.GZ31500@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk> <20040415220232.GC23039@kroah.com> <20040416152448.GF24997@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040416152448.GF24997@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1345 Lines: 30 On Fri, Apr 16, 2004 at 04:24:48PM +0100, viro@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk wrote: > On Thu, Apr 15, 2004 at 03:02:32PM -0700, Greg KH wrote: > > No, we don't want that. It's ok to have a dangling symlink in the fs if > > the device the link was pointing to is now gone. All of the struct > > class_device stuff relies on the fact that a struct device can go away > > at any time, and nothing bad will happen (with the exception of a stale > > symlink.) > > > > Yeah, it can cause a few odd looking trees when you unplug and replug a > > device a bunch of times, all the while grabbing a reference to the class > > device, but once everything is released by the user, it is cleaned up > > properly, with no harm done to anything. > > Except that these "symlinks" are expected to follow the target upon > renames. Since when did we ever assume that renaming a kobject would rename the symlinks that might point to it? Renaming kobjects are a hack that way, if you use them, you need to be aware of this limitation. So I really do not see the need for this change at all. thanks, greg k-h - 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/