Managing dynamic device naming

Posted Apr 19, 2003 2:37 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (guest, #1954)
Parent article: Managing dynamic device naming

First of all, the kernel is naming the device under any system. In the non-devfs approach, it is naming it with a number; with devfs it names it in a more friendly and flexible name space.

With devfs, you are not stuck with the name the device driver chose. User space can generate symbolic links to satisfy custom naming requirements.

Note that in the proc filesystem, the kernel chooses the file names; I've never heard anyone complain about not being able to choose the name for /proc/filesystems or /proc/scsi/qla2000.

We must strive to get away from device numbers. They are primitive. We're beyond that, and need something easier on us humans.