*BSD News Article 15822


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From: davidg@implode.rain.com (David Greenman)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: Devices, we0, and WD8013EP ethernet card
Message-ID: <C6rFMA.1qv@implode.rain.com>
Date: 9 May 93 12:49:21 GMT
Article-I.D.: implode.C6rFMA.1qv
Organization: Delta Systems, Portland, OR.
Lines: 28

reilly@orac.crissp.qut.edu.au (Andrew Reilly) writes:
...
>>Why doesn't the /dev/MAKEDEV script have a section to create /dev/we0?
>>
>>Why doesn't /sys/i386/conf/devices (?) list a major device number for
>>we0, so that I could modify the MAKEDEV script?
>
>>Where would I find such a number?  I'm new to device drivers...
>>
>>Is this even relevant?  (There aren't MAKEDEV options for any of the
>>other accepted ethernet devices, either, so maybe that's not the way
>>it works.)
>>

lunde@cs.tu-berlin.de (Lars Grupe) writes:
...
>On my site NETBSD created the device we0 automatically. If you miss it
>I could give you the major/minor number (I don't have it handy right now)
>but if you correctly install NETBSD you SHOULD have one.

   I've not looked at NetBSD, but I'm sure you are quite mistaken. Network
devices aren't accessed through the bdev/cdev structure. The device is accessed
through a special data structure for network devices (called ifnet). There
*isn't* any /dev/we* device, nor are there any /dev/sl* devices (for SLIP).
   It's nice that you are trying to be helpful, but giving out wrong
information is worse than saying nothing at all.

-DG