Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 12:41:10 -0800 From: Rich Morin <rdm@cfcl.com> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: documenting /dev/* Message-ID: <p05001918b651b0ea46a9@[192.168.168.205]>
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In documenting /dev/*, I came to some conclusions about it. Here they
are, along with a proposed remedy.
-r
devs_proposal, 2000.12
======================
/dev is a mess. It may work OK for programs, but it is a disaster for
humans. So, here is a modest proposal for a rework (DUCKING).
Because /dev is "wired in" to any number of programs, it must live on.
A "structured dev" directory (/sdev) can, however, be created and used
as a friendly alternative. /sdev will contain the same device names as
/dev does, but they will be organized by a set of subdirectories, as:
/sdev/ structured dev
bus/ bus adapters
scsi/ SCSI bus adapters
adw/ Advansys 16-bit SCSI Host adapters
...
disk/ disks
cdrom/ CD-ROM disks
acd/ ATAPI CD-ROM disks
...
floppy/ floppy disks
afd/ ATAPI floppy disks
...
hard/ hard disks
ad/ ATA hard disks
...
raid/ RAID arrays
amrd/ AMI MegaRAID
...
misc/ miscellany
audio/ audio
video/ video
...
net/ network interfaces
ether/ Ethernet interfaces
cs/ Crystel Semiconductor-based
...
radio/ radio-based network interfaces
...
tape/ tapes
sa/ (SCSI) Sequential Access devices
...
The implementation of /sdev is simple in principle, but complicated
in practice. Each device node in /sdev is simply a hard link to a
node in /dev. The difficulty lies in knowing where the links should
go. I have a reasonable starting point on an index of /dev nodes,
but more work will be needed before it can drive a creation script.
--
--
Rich Morin: rdm@cfcl.com, +1 650-873-7841, http://www.cfcl.com/rdm
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