> In the old UV design, we said that in order to use the /dev/net network 
 > device nodes, applications need to be ported to use libdlpi, and libdlpi 
 > will first try to open the /dev/net node, and if that fails, falls back to 
 > open the /dev node.
 > 
 > I think that approach causes randomness. Most of DLPI applications (and all 
 > DLPI appliations that were ported to use libdlpi, I believe) should open the 
 > /dev/net network device nodes without problem, and if there is any problem, 
 > it should be a bug in the UV gates.

I agree.

 > So that I propose to change the behavior to don't fallback to /dev nodes in 
 > the common case, but add a DLPI_LEGACY flag to libdlpi. If that flag is set, 
 > only open the legacy /dev nodes. (This might be needed for some application).
 > 
 > Further, we will keep the DLPI_LEGACY environment variable. If that is set, 
 > open the /dev nodes. This might be useful for diagnose purpose, so that it 
 > won't be documented.
 > 
 > What do you think.

Aside from the name of the flag/environment variable, I think I'm in
support of this.  (BTW, I see a different flag/environment variable is
proposed in the subject line.)  For the name, maybe DLPI_DEVONLY would
be more clear?

-- 
meem

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