Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 23:41:14 -0500 (EST) From: "John S. Dyson" <dyson@FreeBSD.ORG> To: jonny@jonny.eng.br (Joao Carlos Mendes Luis) Cc: dyson@FreeBSD.ORG, mike@dingo.cdrom.com, mike@smith.net.au, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: kernfs/procfs questions... Message-ID: <199806040441.XAA00768@dyson.iquest.net> In-Reply-To: <199806040144.WAA03920@roma.coe.ufrj.br> from Joao Carlos Mendes Luis at "Jun 3, 98 10:44:55 pm"
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Joao Carlos Mendes Luis said: > > Then, /dev/kmem is bogus ? > TM > The idea that file namespace controls everything is a GoodThing, > and the existence of device files is one of the things I like > more in Unix. > That is reducing things to the absurd. I don't like the silly string parsing in the debug control for procfs for example. The bad thing about multiple namespaces is when they aren't well supported, poorly designed and not hierarchical like the SYSV IPC stuff. Think of this issue: When writing a message to a /kernfs file to modify a function, do you want to implement a full and general interface for partial message transfers, etc??? Sysctl is pseudo-message based, and operations are complete within themselves. > > > I agree with somebody (Mike ?) who said that this facilitates > using of general tools. > Sysctl is easy to use with such tools also. If someone wants to use the kernfs paradigm, it is okay, but it seems to be redundant. Using sysctl is quite trivial (the man page reflects a much nicer API than the original.) Also, kernfs implies a filesystem, and the associated VFS stuff, while it isn't needed with sysctl. You don't need vnodes, or any of the other cruft to implement the unnecessary state for sysctl, while filesystems have to implement all kinds of things... -- John | Never try to teach a pig to sing, dyson@freebsd.org | it just makes you look stupid, jdyson@nc.com | and it irritates the pig. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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