Re: [CFT] more kdev_t-ectomy

Andries.Brouwer@cwi.nl
Mon, 21 Apr 2003 01:56:34 +0200 (MEST)


> Of course it may be possible to avoid kernel-internal numbers altogether.
> Sometimes that is an improvement, sometimes not. Pointers are more
> complicated than numbers - they point at something that must be allocated
> and freed and reference counted. A number is like a pointer without the
> reference counting.

I guess the question is: is there any point to have three forms --
with necessary conversions between them -- or is it simpler to have
two forms and just use the more awkward dev_t form everywhere?

It doesnt matter much. I would not have introduced kdev_t just
for slightly more efficient dev_t handling. But we have it already.
It seems meaningless to go and replace it by something more awkward
and less efficient.

[But should anyone want: globally s/kdev_t/dev_t/ and a small edit
of kdev_t.h suffices.]

We do need a dev32_t for NFSv2 et al, though.

I don't know why.

Andries
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