Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site bbncca.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!bbncca!sdyer 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 {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbncca.ARPA