Re: Migrating to larger numbers

[Wakko Warner]

> > I wonder if it might be possible to do something special for NFS, like
> > maybe make for NFS consumption a special file system where specific 64
> > bit device numbers are mapped into a 32 bit range...  [And didn't I
> > already see some posts about device number aliasing?]
> 
> Nobody else has needed more than 32bits. Show me a case it is needed and
> an OS that suffers from using 32bits. Then you can argue about ruining NFS
> interoperability for the sake of some airy number guessing.

On a side note, what happens if say 32bits were implemented (as it's
currently IIRC 16 bit.  8bit major 8bit minor) as 12bit:20bit and you have
an older nfs client (say about .2 or .4 kernel versions prior.  I'm talking
minor kernel version, not patch) looking in /dev on the server?  I use on
occasion, /dev/dsp off a server (this is the way I have a game setup that
runs entirely over nfs)

What would happen, would the nfs server realize it has an old client and
mask the major/minor?