From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262074AbTLDDij (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Dec 2003 22:38:39 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262114AbTLDDij (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Dec 2003 22:38:39 -0500 Received: from c06284a.rny.bostream.se ([217.215.27.171]:45326 "EHLO pc2.dolda2000.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262074AbTLDDig (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Dec 2003 22:38:36 -0500 From: Fredrik Tolf MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <16334.44085.362449.278626@pc7.dolda2000.com> Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 04:38:29 +0100 To: Greg KH Cc: Fredrik Tolf , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Why is hotplug a kernel helper? In-Reply-To: <20031204022911.GA23761@kroah.com> References: <16334.31260.278243.22272@pc7.dolda2000.com> <20031204011357.GA22506@kroah.com> <16334.38227.433336.514399@pc7.dolda2000.com> <20031204022911.GA23761@kroah.com> X-Mailer: VM 7.17 under Emacs 21.2.1 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org 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