i realize that's a potentially dumb question but that doesn't seem to be explicitly stated in any of the docs i'm reading -- it always just seems to be assumed. i've always assumed that if you just "cat" a /proc file that's based on seq_file, the offset value that's passed will always be zero, so you're always starting at the beginning. however, if you look at the source for fs/proc/devices.c, you read: static void *devinfo_start(struct seq_file *f, loff_t *pos) { if (*pos < (BLKDEV_MAJOR_HASH_SIZE + CHRDEV_MAJOR_HASH_SIZE)) return pos; return NULL; } note that that routine clearly checks the initial value of the offset, which i assume you can affect by, say, reading the file with "dd" and specifying an offset, or something like that. but unless you explicitly change the starting location, is it true that the start() routine always gets an offset of zero? or are there other ways to affect that value? rday -- ======================================================================== Robert P. J. Day Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry. Web page: http://crashcourse.ca Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday "Kernel Newbie Corner" column @ linux.com: http://cli.gs/WG6WYX ======================================================================== -- To unsubscribe from this list: send an email with "unsubscribe kernelnewbies" to ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxx Please read the FAQ at http://kernelnewbies.org/FAQ