Kernel Configuration -> devfs -> Automatically mount a

eeppx · n00b Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 44

Hi,

Could someone please explain what does "Automatically mount at boot" do when enabled.

The installation guide says that it is required for Gentoo Linux. However, from some resources I saw that it should be disabled (may be they are out of date..). For example: http://www.isi.edu/~weiye/system/guide/devfs.html
Could someone please make it clear?

Thanks.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 2:00 pm Post subject:

eeppx,

"Automatically mount at boot" mounts /devfs during the boot process so that devices can be registered as they are encountered.

Only developers would want this set to no, then they have to mount /devfs manually with the mount command. devfs is then mounted over the top of the the old /dev which is populated with with the mknod command.

Anyway, Gentoo won't boot unless devfs is mounted during boot because it expects to find it. The warnings about 'dont do this' are getting less and less even though devfs is still listed in the kernel as experimenta;.

Regards,

NeddySeagoon
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

eeppx · n00b Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 44

For my kernel configuration, it is not enabled and I do not have any problems (or I think so..).

When it is enabled and when mounted under /devfs, aliases like /dev/hda will be updated, true? Do I have any problems if I activate it? Because I use old style aliases sometimes.

One more question about devfs:

I have the following line in my grub.conf:

root (hd0,1)
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/kernel root=/dev/hda5

Can I use "/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part2" instead of (hd0,1)? And I want to learn why devfs name convention differs between to types, I mean: why not (hd0,2)?

Thanks.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 3:15 pm Post subject:

eeppx,

The hd(0,0) is a grub thing not a devfs thing. Yon must use grob conventions within grub.

With devfs device nodes in /dev come and go with the devices, provided the drivers call register and unregister. Most but not all do.

For devices that are not devfs aware you can still use mknod.

In Gentoo, the file dates are used to determine if a node or link needs to be preserved across reboots. Automatic device files are all dated 1 Jan 1970, which is *NIX time zero.

Regards,

NeddySegoon
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.