Re: RE: Built 2.6.14!

David Baron <d_baron@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

|> > I note that any attempt to place CONFIG_DEVFS=y (or CONFIG_DEVFS_FS
|> > as implied
|> > in the Makefile by the devfs sources!!) produces an undefined symbol error. I
|> > did, however, notice some errors dealing with devfs elsewhere. In any event,
|> >this was NOT in the kernel I compiled!
|>
|> Actually, I do not know how I booted this kernel.

devfs and udev are both utilities which create device files dynamically as needed,
either at boot time or in response to hotplugging of pieces of hardware while the
system is running. One advantage that is claimed for both is that you have only the
files you actually need in the /dev/ directory rather than zillions of files that
will never be used. Plus, hotplugging is a useful thing to be able to do.

Devfs is disabled in the 2.6.14 kernel (the code is still in the kernel, but it is
not compiled in response to `make'). So if you want to populate the /dev/ directory,
with 2.6.14 udev is your only option.

Of course, if you already have a /dev directory which contains the files your system
needs, you won't need either devfs or udev. But you won't have the claimed advantages
of dynamic device-file creation either,

Jim



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