Re: std location for system console

[Thomas Bushnell, BSG]

Marcus Brinkmann <Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de> writes:

> On Sat, Aug 31, 2002 at 04:45:11AM -0700, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> > Marcus Brinkmann <Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de> writes:
> > The canonical system console should be /dev/console: that is, writing
> > to it should be "writing to the console".  /dev is for anything that
> > is "device-like", including pseudo-devices and redirecting devices.
> > It's not just for Unix legacy things.
> 
> Ok.  Where do you put the horde of virtual consoles
> "somename/NUMBER/console"?  /dev/console is taken by the kernel
> device console already, and is assumed to be a single node, and not
> a directory of directories with nodes.

/dev/console should be a single node, and should be wherever the
"virtual" console is--that is, /dev/console should not necessarily be
wedded to a particular piece of *hardware*, but rather to whatever the
"canonical system console" is.  Think here of the console indirection
ioctl that many Unix systems have, whereby you can designate any
terminal as "the console", and then /dev/console goes there.

I have no particular advice about naming the "hordes of virtual
consoles".  I think the Linux names have the advantage of familiarity
for some people.  Unlike Roland, I dislike subdirectories in /dev, but
it's not really a very big deal.

Remind me why these are somename/NUMBER/console and not just
somename/NUMBER?

Thomas