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Date:      Thu, 9 Oct 1997 20:33:11 +0200
From:      j@uriah.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch)
To:        freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Cc:        mdean@best.com (mdean)
Subject:   Re: Major number requested
Message-ID:  <19971009203311.QE10395@uriah.heep.sax.de>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SGI.3.95.971008234128.3136A-100000@shellx.best.com>; from mdean on Oct 8, 1997 23:42:30 -0700
References:  <Pine.SGI.3.95.971008190216.13566A-100000@shellx.best.com> <Pine.SGI.3.95.971008234128.3136A-100000@shellx.best.com>

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As mdean wrote:

> I would like to ask for a major number for my dio48s/at-p driver (48
> channel digital i/o with change of state interrupt).

Well, we probably wouldn't `reserve' major numbers before they are
needed.  However, with the current approach, this is just a single
#define statement in your code anyway, so i don't think you gotta
worry much about it yet.  Simply use major # 20 (``local use'') by now
to develop it.  Basically, if you look at the latest copy of the file
/sys/i386/conf/majors.i386, you'll see what's the next available
number.

>  I will be contributing this driver, unless rejected, to the
> freebsd project.

Please adhere to style(9) if you intend to contribute it.  If you care
for it from the beginning, it's much easier than changing things
later.

> I also need to know what kind of man page text I need to go along with
> this. I have never done any man pages.

Basically, pick some comparable device driver man page from section 4
(/usr/src/share/man/man4/).  Unless the driver exports some kernel API
functions (i.e. non-`static' functions etc. that can be reused in
other parts of the kernel), section 9 man pages are not required.

I think there are a number of people around in the committers club who
are knowledgable about man pages, so if you ask nicely for a review/
style fixup, it's likely that you should find someone.  Finding a
kernel committer who's knowledgable enough for at least a cursory
review of your code *and* who also has the time to do it is probably
much harder.

-- 
cheers, J"org

joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de -- http://www.sax.de/~joerg/ -- NIC: JW11-RIPE
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)



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