NoMoreDevfs
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The following is a pared-down list of suspicious uses of /dev (note that this was generated from an upstream d-i tree, so contains packages not relevant to Ubuntu): attachment:d-i-dev |
Launchpad Entry: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/no-more-devfs
Created: Date(2006-06-05T16:09:16Z) by ColinWatson
Contributors: ColinWatson
Packages affected: aboot-installer autopartkit base-installer colo-installer hw-detect kbd-chooser libdebian-installer lilo-installer lowmem lvmcfg mdcfg mountfloppy nobootloader oldsys-preseed os-prober partconf partitioner partman-auto-lvm partman-base partman-crypto partman-lvm partman-md partman-target rootskel s390-dasd sibyl-installer userdevfs vmelilo-installer
Summary
As of Ubuntu 5.10 (and to some extent still in 6.06), the Ubuntu installer relies on devfs pathnames, which are nonstandard. We should stop using them.
Rationale
Many components of the Ubuntu installer (both text-mode and graphical) are descended from code that was written in Debian for use on Linux 2.4, where the installer used devfs. In fact, the same code upstream still optionally runs on Linux 2.4. As a result, there are various assumptions of devfs pathnames scattered around the codebase, which requires extra support code in udev just for the installer (and udev's support for enumerated devices is sometimes unreliable, so should be avoided), breaks Ubiquity in the event we accidentally run across it, and causes confusion. We should make all installer code work in the absence of devfs paths.
Use cases
This is an infrastructure specification; there are no concrete use cases, although this work will probably fix a number of complicated bugs in the area of installer hardware detection.
Scope
Remove hardcoded device paths where possible; otherwise introduce abstraction layers that can cope with either devfs or normal device paths. Where possible, ensure that the modified code will still work with devfs, so that the code can be contributed upstream.
Design
The following is a pared-down list of suspicious uses of /dev (note that this was generated from an upstream d-i tree, so contains packages not relevant to Ubuntu): attachment:d-i-dev
Implementation
Code
Data preservation and migration
Outstanding issues
BoF agenda and discussion
NoMoreDevfs (last edited 2008-08-06 16:31:46 by localhost)