Using sysfs for configuring wireless networking [LWN.net]

Using sysfs for configuring wireless networking

Posted Jan 13, 2006 3:58 UTC (Fri) by gregkh (subscriber, #8)
In reply to: Using sysfs for configuring wireless networking by neilbrown
Parent article: Linux and wireless networking

> Atomic, multi-parameter update is quite possible with sysfs.
> You just need a "go" button.

But it's much easier to do with configfs, which is why it was created :)

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Using sysfs for configuring wireless networking

Posted Jan 13, 2006 4:28 UTC (Fri) by neilbrown (subscriber, #359) [Link]

Configfs seems to be designed for initial configuration.

you create a directory under '/config/scratch' (or some similar name). It magically has a bunch of attribute files in it.
you fill values into those attribute files
you rename "/config/scratch/whatever" to "/config/active/whatever" (names might be wrong) and suddenly "whatever" becomes live.

This doesn't seem to allow for reconfiguration. e.g. I want to change these three attributes atomically.

It also means that all the attributes appear under configfs for initial configuration, and may well need to appear in sysfs as well for monitoring/maintenance if they might change after initialisation. This is untidy.

In short, configfs seems to draw an unnatural distinction between initial configuration and ongoing maintenance, whereas I believe these should be indistinguishable.

The idea of using "mkdir" to create a new object is a nice one. It is a shame it cannot (does not) live directly in sysfs.