Has anyone dumped udev for devfs?

[Deron Meranda]

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 00:33:36 +0100, Thomas Zehetbauer
<thomasz at hostmaster.org> wrote:
> It has no apparent advantages over static /dev but caused a lot of
> problems.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if you really want static device
files can't you still create them?  Just do mknod yourself an put them in
/etc/udev/devices/.  Or you certainly can put device files in directories
other than /dev.

> No, I don't want devfs. I did not see any reason to replace /dev with
> devfs and I don't see a reason to replace it with udev now. The energy
> would be better spent on better device names.

I you don't see a reason, then you've just never had to operate in a
complicated environment.  There's nothing wrong with that, and yes,
if you're in a simple static configuration static device files seem
perfectly good.  But the old way of doing things with static major
device numbers and static device files does cause serious problems
for large, complex, or dynamic systems; and has long outlived it's
utility and it placed serious limitations on Linux progress.

Again, why not just make your own directory, like /mydev, and
make device files to your heart's content in there?  udev won't
touch them.

Or, if you're willing to totally take control, make udev use an alternate
dev directory (edit udev_root="/dev/" in the /etc/udev/udev.conf file)
and you can use /dev as a good old-fashioned static filesystem
with permanent static device files.

Or, use a different distribution that stays further behind the curve.


Personally, I very much like the potential of udev.  It just seems like
the right way to do things, is powerful, and gives me lots of control.
I only wish I had something like udev on all the UNIX boxen I have
managed!  If there's some bugs or undesirable behavior, I'm willing
to try to help solve them; whether that's mucking with code, testing,
or just providing useful and detailed observations so others have
more information to solve any problems.  And I think Fedora is just
about the perfect place to put udev through real-world "burn-in".
-- 
Deron Meranda