Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 17 Jul 2003 01:44:10 +0200 | From | Andries Brouwer <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] print_dev_t for 2.6.0-test1-mm |
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On Wed, Jul 16, 2003 at 03:21:43PM -0700, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > > Why do we need the 16:16 option? > > > > It is not very important, but major 0 is reserved, so if userspace > > (or a filesystem) hands us a 32-bit device number, we have to > > split that in some way, not 0+32. Life is easiest with 16+16. > > (Now the major is nonzero, otherwise we had 8+8.) > > Other choices lead to slightly more complicated code. > > > > Why would anyone hand the kernel a 32-bit device number? They're either 16 > or 64, are they not?
The kernel has no control over what userspace comes with. And here userspace includes filesystems. Not all filesystems know how to come with 64 bits.
Andries
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