Devfs has a compatibility mode which can be turned on. it enables the old device paths, like /dev/hda4, to coexist with the new paths, though mount will report the new path.
Jason > > > On Sat, Jan 06, 2001 at 01:34:07PM -0500, S.Salman Ahmed wrote: > > > > I have one question regarding devfs: does it offer any performance > > improvements over the traditional non-devfs setup, or is > devfs simply a > > 'structural' change ? > > i fail to see how typing: > > /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 > > instead of /dev/hda1 or /dev/wd0a whenever i need to do anything > related to raw devices is a performance improvment. nor is writing > huge kludgy initscripts or bloated daemons just so i can do: > > chgrp wheel /dev/somedevice > chmod 660 /dev/somedevice > > and have it stick. (past reboots) > > as for anyone attempting to make the silly claim that /dev has > thousands of devices and thus incurs the evil ext2fs directory > slowness ask them why they are not turning /usr/bin into a fake > filesystem. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] eb]$ ls -1 /dev | wc -l > 1222 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] eb]$ ls -1 /usr/bin | wc -l > 2109 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] eb]$ > > the only directory on my system which i can even percieve the > slightest slowdown is /var/lib/dpkg/info, and even then its hardly > noticable nor anything to cry about: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] eb]$ ls -1 /var/lib/dpkg/info | wc -l > 5289 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] eb]$ > > better solutions to ext2 directory performance is fix the filesystem, > reiserfs does not have this problem and i think ext3 does not either. > > the only other argument i ever hear is whining about device files with > no corrosponding device, well i could care less. if i will never will > have the device and it bothers me THAT much rm -f /dev/somedevice*. > otherwise its nice to know exactly what permissions some hardware will > have before installing it. /dev is not a database of what hardware is > installed, that belongs to /sbin/lspci and /proc (though proc is a > hideous mess, everything except processes should have been moved to > /kern long ago) > > anyway thats just my rant on the subject, if you like devfs use it, > but leave it an OPTION so i can leave it off. (and not an `option' > like proc has become where you have the option to turn off and have a > useless broken system) > > -- > Ethan Benson > http://www.alaska.net/~erbenson/ >
