Re: Why is hotplug a kernel helper?

[Fredrik Tolf <fredrik@dolda2000.com>]

Greg KH writes:
 > On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 03:00:51AM +0100, Fredrik Tolf wrote:
 > > Greg KH writes:
 > >  > On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 01:04:44AM +0100, Fredrik Tolf wrote:
 > >  > > If you don't mind me asking, I would like to know why the kernel calls
 > >  > > a usermode helper for hotplug events? Wouldn't a chrdev be a better
 > >  > > solution (especially considering that programs like magicdev could
 > >  > > listen in to it as well)? 
 > >  > 
 > >  > Please see the archives for why this is, it's been argued many times.
 > > 
 > > I am sincerely sorry for being a bother, but I have spent several
 > > hours searching far and wide for information on it, both in the
 > > archives and generally on the web, without any luck in finding
 > > anything. If it's not too much to ask, would you be as kind as to
 > > provide a pointer?
 > 
 > Here was the latest thread where this was brought up:
 > 	http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?t=105544548100008
 > 
 > I would suggest reading this post from Linus for a quick summary:
 > 	http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=105552804303171
 > 

Thank you for those references. I must have mistyped something while
searching, since all the keywords I searched for were in the
text... Sorry for wasting your time on that.

 > > Btw., Is there any preferred method of announcing hotplug events to
 > > user interfaces?
 > 
 > Yes there is a standard.  Have you read the docs at
 > http://linux-hotplug.sf.net/ ?  Also my 2001 OLS paper details the
 > format the messages should be in, but it's a bit out of date as to the
 > new values that the 2.6 kernel sends.

No, I haven't. I just put that question in the mail as a side-thing. I
had not expected more than a yes/no reply. In any case, I will read
it. Thanks again.

 > What do you want to use the hotplug interface for that it currently does
 > not do?

Admittedly, I'm still using the RH8 hotplug scripts, and I suspect
improvements have been made since then. I was mainly looking for a way
to auto-mount USB mass storage devices without having to reconfigure
anything as root. I have all the info I need now, though.

Thank you very much for your help.

Fredrik Tolf