[linux-lvm] Writing forward compatible applications using /proc

[toon at vdpas.hobby.nl]

On Sun, Aug 12, 2001 at 01:54:02PM +0000, José Luis Domingo López wrote:
> On Saturday, 11 August 2001, at 23:57:18 -0400, Jason Tackaberry wrote:
> 
> > [...]
> > I am curious if it's a silly idea to write an application that relies on
> > the data in /proc?  Do the kernel developers attempt to keep the data
> > and format provided in /proc as stable as possible?  Or is it fair game
> > for trivial changes that could break applications that parse it?  Should
> > I use ioctl instead?
> > 
> As far as I know, there are plans to remove much of the thingss that
> currently appear under /proc. It seems that only information about
> processes currently running will remain under /proc.
> 
> Kernel parameters, system information, kernel variables and kernel
> tunables will probably disappear and will be replaced by some sort of
> user-space application that will allow query and modfication of kernel
> values and tunables. Something similar to Solaris' ndd, AFAIK.

Are you sure about the /proc filesystem disappearing?
Linus Torvalds likes it much more than ioctl's, as far as I know.
Besides, the story about the user-space application doesn't sound
very realistically to me.

I advise you to ask the question about the future of the /proc
filesystem on the linux-kernel mailing list.

Regards,
Toon.