>> These device nodes are not functional at the moment - open() returns >> -ENOSYS. Their only purpose is to provide userspace with a kernel >> name to ifindex mapping, in a form that udev can easily manage. > >If the idea is just to provide a userspace-visible mapping >(and presumably take advantage of udev's infrastructure for >naming) does this need kernel changes? Could this be a >hierarchy under e.g. /etc/udev instead, using plain text >files? It still means we need something like libnetdevname for >apps to do the translation, but I'm not seeing why it matters >how this map is stored. Is there some special property of the >character devices (e.g. uevents) that we're not already >getting with the existing interfaces? Yes. The char device by itself doesn't help in any way. But it provides a flexible mechanism to provide multiple names for the same device, just the way it is for disks. With regards, Narendra K -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-hotplug" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
