Date:	Thu, 15 Jun 2000 22:15:37 -0600
From:	Richard Gooch <rgooch@ras.ucalgary.ca>
To:	devfs@oss.sgi.com, linux-fsdevel@vger.rutgers.edu
Subject: [RFC] Devfs API changes: READ OR SUFFER

  Hi, all. It's been brought to my attention that <devfs_register> has
more parameters than it really needs (thanks, Al:-). So I'd like to
know how much pain it would cause to change the API for this
function. This is the best time to do it, before 2.4 is released.

IF I GET NO RESPONSE, I'LL ASSUME NO-ONE CARES! And the next patch
will change the API.

The specific parameters I'm planning on removing are:

- namelen: this is a minor optimsation that we don't really need (it
  may in fact be a de-optimisation on register-starved machines)

- uid, gid: the only value that is ever passed is 0. Any other values
  would imply kernel/driver knowledge of /etc/passwd and /etc/group
  and/or some other kind of configuration file. If you really want a
  different uig/gid, use devfsd (which can change things before
  anything else in userspace can access the inode). For Unix98 pty's,
  an extra flag bit will suffice which will use current->uig/gid
  instead of 0.

				Regards,

					Richard....
Permanent: rgooch@atnf.csiro.au
Current:   rgooch@ras.ucalgary.ca

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