From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sun, 13 May 2001 21:29:14 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sun, 13 May 2001 21:29:04 -0400 Received: from e31.co.us.ibm.com ([32.97.110.129]:19594 "EHLO e31.bld.us.ibm.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sun, 13 May 2001 21:28:49 -0400 Importance: Normal Subject: Minor numbers To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 5.0.3 (Intl) 21 March 2000 Message-ID: From: "Alex Q Chen" Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 18:28:46 -0700 X-MIMETrack: Serialize by Router on D03NM080/03/M/IBM(Release 5.0.6 |December 14, 2000) at 05/13/2001 07:28:48 PM MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org To the best of my knowledge, dev_t number is still 16 bits with 8 most significant bits being the major number and the other 8 bits being the minor number; which of course means that minor numbers can only go up to 255. Has this limitation been some how addressed with 2.4? 256 devices per module, sometimes is not enough, especially if you are in the SAN environment; or when the 256 minors numbers are broken down to several ranges of numbers to address different types of special files. I don't see how this problem can be solved with dev_fs either. Anyone out there with a work-around or is proposing a solution? I believe that minor and major numbers for SUN and AIX are both 16 bits each (32 bits dev_t). Thanks in advance for your input. Thanks! Sincerely, Alex Chen IBM SSD Device Driver Development Office: 9000 S. Rita Rd 9032/2262 Email: aqchen@us.ibm.com Phone: (external) 520-799-5212 (Tie Line) (321)-5212