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From: sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: Accessing kmem, how about a driver?
Message-ID: <1206@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 11-Dec-84 23:17:30 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.1206
Posted: Tue Dec 11 23:17:30 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Dec-84 00:41:46 EST
References: <813@druky.UUCP>
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 12

In fact, the Harvard and BBN PDP-11 and C/70 kernels have had "table
devices" installed for almost 5 years now.  I believe a prototypical
device driver was distributed on a USENIX tape a few years ago.  It
has all the advantages you allude to: greater security (these files
may more reliably have read permission than, say, kmem) as well as some
measure of include file independence, as long as structure tags are not
reordered--ioctls return the size of each element as well as the total number
of elements.
-- 
/Steve Dyer
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