raw device property

Soren Hansen sh at linux2go.dk
Wed Mar 29 23:43:21 PST 2006


On Wed, Mar 29, 2006 at 01:57:46PM -0800, Artem Kachitchkine wrote:
> Another concern is how portable applications are going to obtain raw
> access. When 'raw_device' != 'device', just opening 'raw_device' with
> the usual POSIX flags gives you raw access. When 'raw_device' ==
> 'device', one needs to supply additional flags, which might not exist
> on all OSes. HAL would need some way to express this, to keep
> application portable.

I understand your concerns. Nevertheless, your proposal seems kind of
kludgy. :-) What if we add the raw_device attribute which will only be
defined if there's a separate device for raw_access (just like you
suggested), and add another attribute that exposes whether or not the OS
allows you to open the block devices with O_DIRECT and hence access it
like a raw device.  That should remove any ambiguity and we ARE in the
abstracting-stuff-away bussiness after all. :-)


-- 
| Soren Hansen    | Linux2Go                  | http://Linux2Go.dk/ |
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| sh at linux2go.dk  | 9400 Norresundby, Denmark | GPG key: E8BDA4E3   |
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