From owner-freebsd-hackers  Fri Apr 21 16:06:09 1995
Return-Path: hackers-owner
Received: (from majordom@localhost)
          by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.10/8.6.6) id QAA23957
          for hackers-outgoing; Fri, 21 Apr 1995 16:06:09 -0700
Received: from vector.eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de (vector.eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de [129.187.142.36])
          by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.10/8.6.6) with ESMTP id PAA23705
          for <hackers@freebsd.org>; Fri, 21 Apr 1995 15:59:30 -0700
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by vector.eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de (8.6.11/8.6.9) with SMTP id XAA08120; Thu, 20 Apr 1995 23:24:18 +0200
Message-Id: <199504202124.XAA08120@vector.eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de>
X-Authentication-Warning: vector.eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de: Host localhost didn't use HELO protocol
To: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
cc: julian@ref.tfs.com, rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com, hackers@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: [DEVFS] your opinions sought! 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 19 Apr 1995 10:30:55 +0200."
             <199504190830.SAA28041@godzilla.zeta.org.au> 
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 23:24:18 +0200
From: Julian Howard Stacey <jhs@regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de>
Sender: hackers-owner@FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk


> >I personally have always prefered the flat scheme of /dev 
> I like it fairly flat. 

Suggestion: While deciding, assume sometime later you'll come across a half
dead singler user system, with no mouse, & no X-11, & you'll be poking about
in /dev, perhaps over a telnet, or a 24x80 old glass tty (or a pc running
dos-kermit etc) ..... consider how much info you'll be able to see in a
worst case 24x80 window ....  & just to complete the Armageddon scenario
...  assume /usr/bin/more is unmounted (eg corrupt /usr fs), 
& assume Control-S flow control is broken somewhere.

When up multiuser, with /usr/bin/make & /usr/bin/gcc & /usr/bin/gdb &
/usr/bin/vi & /usr/X11R6/bin/X & all the other `luxury' tools from /usr,
`flat' or `deep' are both usable, but directories with _lots_ of stuff in
can be a pain for 24x80 screens.

Not that I'm any fan of deep nested dev dirs, just that I Know I'll be back
in /dev sometime on a well broken box, in 24x80 mode.

Julian S.