Re: __KERNEL__ removal

Horst von Brand (vonbrand@sleipnir.valparaiso.cl)
Sun, 15 Jul 2001 10:21:44 -0400


kaih@khms.westfalen.de (Kai Henningsen) said:

[...]

> ... but if we are looking for a clean solution to types and constants that
> are needed to communicate between kernel and user space, IMO the thing to
> do is to define these in some sort of generic format, and have a tool to
> generate actual headers from that according to whatever kernel, libc or
> whoever wants to see. Possibly more than one tool as requirements differ.

Much easier, plain C, no special tools:

include/linux/...
include/asm/...
include/glibc/...

where .../glibc/xyz.h contains the shared parts, and the others feel
free to include that as needed.

The real problem is that the interfaces _do_ change, as new syscalls,
ioctls, and constants show up (so "one set of .h for userland, cast in
stone for all eternity" won't _ever_ do), and that parts of the userland
are tightly bound to the kernel, and _need_ inside knowledge (strace, the
tools for manipulating modules, ...). Plus glibc and userland also
changes...

-- 
Horst von Brand                             vonbrand@sleipnir.valparaiso.cl
Casilla 9G, Vin~a del Mar, Chile                               +56 32 672616
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