Hi, as I soon want to start with the userland tool for devfs, I would like to hear some thoughts on what userland functionality is needed for devfs.
While my original intentions were to also replace the current devd, I don't see the need for it, neither do I think it's appropriate as it for example can execute commands for devices that nobody ( as in: no driver ) attached to, which is something devfs won't be able to do. So what is left for devfs userland tool to do is to apply certain permissions/rules to devices that are created. I currently see two solutions to this: 1) notify the userland tool of every single device attach/detach and give it some time to answer with a set of permissions for the newly created device. This approach requires running the devfs userland tool as a daemon, with one instance per devfs mount point. This has the advantage that rules could be kept in userspace. 2) let the userland tool load a whole set of rules (for each devfs mount point) into the kernel. In turn the kernel applies the set of rules every time a device is attached. This has several advantages: - userland wouldn't have to be asked for every device attach - rules would continue to be applied even if the userland tool isn't running - for that same reason, userland tool wouldn't have to be a daemon. While I prefer the second approach, I would like to hear your thoughts about this before making a final decision on which one to use. I'd also welcome suggestions of other things you think the userland devfs tool should be able to do. Cheers, Alex Hornung