linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/1] devpts: use dynamic

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Date:   Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:07:46 -0700
From:   Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:     "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@...ssion.com>
Cc:     Christian Brauner <christian.brauner@...onical.com>,
        Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
        Serge Hallyn <serge@...lyn.com>,
        Stefan Lippers-Hollmann <s.l-h@....de>,
        Christian Brauner <christian.brauner@...ntu.com>,
        Thorsten Leemhuis <regressions@...mhuis.info>,
        Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/1] devpts: use dynamic_dname() to generate proc name

On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 1:43 PM, Eric W. Biederman
<ebiederm@...ssion.com> wrote:
>
> There are just enough weird one off scripts like xen image builder (I
> think that was the nasty test case that broke in debian) that I can't
> imagine ever being able to responsibly remove the path based lookups in
> /dev/ptmx.  I do dream of it sometimes.

Not going to happen.

The fact is, /dev/ptmx is the simply the standard location.
/dev/pts/ptmx simply is *not*.

So pretty much every single user that ever uses pty's will use
/dev/ptmx, it's just how it has always worked.

Trying to change it to anything else is just stupid. There's no
upside, there is only downsides - mainly the "we'll have to support
the standard way anyway, that newfangled way doesn't add anything".

Our "pts" lookup isn't expensive.

So quite frankly, we should discourage people from using the
non-standard place. It really has no real advantages, and it's simply
not worth it.

               Linus