On Wednesday, 24 January 2024 06:32:13 CST Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote: > On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 09:43:09PM -0600, Elizabeth Figura wrote: > > > Why do you need a fixed minor number? Can't your userspace handle > > > dynamic numbers? What systems require a static value? > > > > I believe I added this because it's necessary for MODULE_ALIAS (and, more > > broadly, because I was following the example of vaguely comparable devices > > like /dev/loop-control). I suppose I could instead just remove MODULE_ALIAS > > (or even remove the ability to compile ntsync as a module entirely). > > Do you really need MODULE_ALIAS()? Having it for char devices to be > auto-loaded is not generally considered a good idea anymore as systems > should have the module loaded before userspace goes and asks for it. > > It also reduces suprises when any random userspace program can cause > kernel modules to be loaded for no real reason. I think there's no reason we can't make loading the system's problem. I'll remove it in v2.