On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:07:37 +0000, Alan Mackenzie wrote: > But I really meant what functionality udev has that mdev lacks. For > example, mdev this morning recognised my USB stick being inserted, and > created /dev/sdc for it.
udev does a *lot* more than that, for example the persistent naming of network interfaces. More significantly, it can run programs based on device rules. For example, usb_modeswitch installs a udev rule to switch a 3G USB modem from CD to modem mode, without which it won't work. That's fine when you plug it into a running system, but when you boot with it plugged in, it can trip over itself because the usb_modeswitch executable is in /usr/sbin. You could use this to argue that /usr should be mounted before udev is started, but you could just as well use it to argue that udev should not be trying to run such rules at the boot runlevel. -- Neil Bothwick ... "I dropped my toothpaste," Tom said, Crestfallen.
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