Re: [PATCH] new system call mknod64

Roman Zippel (zippel@linux-m68k.org)
Mon, 21 Apr 2003 13:59:02 +0200 (CEST)


Hi,

On Sun, 20 Apr 2003, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> The kernel should get major and minor numbers. It's a sad mistake that
> UNIX uses "dev_t" in the first place, and clearly the glibc interface to
> user mode will have to be that historical braindamage. But we should
> realize that the _right_ interface is keeping the <major, minor> tuple
> explicit, and any new system call interfaces should be of that type.

May I ask what advantage it has to split that number?
Everywhere it's just a simple number, only when we present that number to
the user, we create some kind of illusion that this split has any meaning.

bye, Roman

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