> If a device has a <name>.<instance> scheme this implies possibility of
quoted text
> having several instances of said device in a box. There are a few of
> platform devices that can only have one instance

Like USB peripheral controllers.  Only one external "B" type
connector is allowed.


quoted text
>	- for example i8042
> keyboard controller (the -1 special handling came from me because
> i80420 name was very confusing - there wasn't a dot separator in the
> name back then).

There were other devices with similar issues.


quoted text
>	Drivers that allow multiple devices should not
> attempt to use -1 for the very first instance - this should eliminate
> potential for error and special handling that you are talking about.

For that matter, a *driver* should never create its own device node(s)
in the first place.  Device creation belongs elsewhere, like as part of
platform setup or, for busses with integral enumeration support like
PCI or USB, bus glue.  Linux is moving away from that legacy model.

I realize that may be more easily said than done in some cases,
like i8042 on non-PNP systems.

- Dave

-
unsubscribe notice
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/