On 29 Jan 2002, Dave Carrigan wrote:
> Walter Tautz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Would it not be better to have CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=n > > Why? > i suppose I was thinking interms of the overhead of having to do what you mention below. Granted I experienced no real problems without having to change anything. But it does seem to be a bit of surprise as the default in the kernel documentation is not to turn it on. At least this is what one reads in: /usr/src/kernel-source-2.4.17/Documentation/filesystems/devfs/README: <quote> NOTE that devfs is entirely optional. If you prefer the old disc-based device nodes, then simply leave CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=n (the default). In this case, nothing will change. ALSO NOTE that if you do enable devfs, the defaults are such that full compatibility is maintained with the old devices names. </quote> So the last line shows why I was still able to mount my partitions using the old device names--good thing. I > > Anyone know how to create devfs? > > mount -t devfs - /dev That worked but it creates weird time stamps: # ls -al /dev/ total 4 drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 . drwxr-xr-x 26 root root 4096 Jan 29 14:58 .. crw------- 1 root root 8, 0 Dec 31 1969 .devfsd crw------- 1 root root 5, 1 Jan 29 15:08 console drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 cpu drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 cua drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 discs drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 fb crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1, 7 Dec 31 1969 full drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 ide prw------- 1 root root 0 Jan 29 15:05 initctl drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 input crw-r----- 1 root root 1, 2 Dec 31 1969 kmem crw-r----- 1 root root 1, 1 Dec 31 1969 mem drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 misc crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1, 3 Dec 31 1969 null crw-r----- 1 root root 1, 4 Dec 31 1969 port crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 5, 2 Dec 31 1969 ptmx drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 pts drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 pty crw-r--r-- 1 root root 1, 8 Dec 31 1969 random drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 rd lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 4 Dec 31 1969 root -> rd/0 drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 shm drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 tts crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 5, 0 Dec 31 1969 tty crw-r--r-- 1 root root 1, 9 Dec 31 1969 urandom drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 usb drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 vc drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dec 31 1969 vcc crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1, 5 Dec 31 1969 zero And even worse, it got rid of the old device names, yikes. Warning folks! > apt-get install devfsd Good news....this step recreates the old device names as softlinks. Whew! Boy these kernel dudes are way cool! > > > cramfs: wrong magic > > > > What is cramfs? > > Compressed ramdisk filesystem. Useful for initrd's. The wrong magic > message is probably from the kernel's attempt to auto-determine the > filesystem during a mount. > > > Just curious to hear other people's opinions on this matter, i.e. > > don't use devfs. It seems to me the debian kernel should have > > CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=n. > > Some people want devfs. Devfs can't be created as a module. Hence, the > logical choice is to build the kernel with devfs support. Nothing's > forcing you to use devfs, even if your kernel has devfs support, and the > overhead is not very much. > > -- You're quite right...as it turns out things worked even without constructed devfs. Thanks Dave! -walter
