Re: Suggested dual human/binary interface for proc/devfs

[Linus Torvalds]

On 13 Apr 2000, Kjetil Torgrim Homme wrote:
> 
> To make devfs really useful the permissions need to be set on a higher
> level, algorithmically and dynamically.  That is, a user space device
> manager where you can specify _general_ rules like "members of the
> backup filegroup shall have read access to all storage devices".

Exactly. This is the kind of thing that makes devfs worth it. Together
with some way of specifying these things for the whole network (I wasn't
kidding when I mentioned NIS) it actually gives system administrators
something new. And it makes for more than just a regular /dev on a regular
filesystem.

Imagine devfs together with network block devices - you could quite
transparently handle local/non-local disks etc, without the user even
knowing. And with the sysadmin being able to change what /dev/hda is
without having to even log onto the machine in question..

[ Yes, that example probably sucks. Don't even bother showing how stupid
  it is. I'm more trying to get the mindset here. ]

		Linus