> How would using sysfs be useful if we were to talk about interacting with, > let's say, a file system? ioctl's are quite versatile and rather easy to use > when one wants to interact with a given FS. > > For instance, one can manage a Btrfs file system by using an user-level tool, > which heavily uses ioctl's. Requiring it to interact with sysfs instead seems > like complicating something simple with no apparent purpose.
Franlky, I've never used the sysfs interface and mostly know it from 'theoretical' view-point. It was created mostly for providing a uniform way for user-space applications (udev/HAL, driver tools, etc) to interact with a device driver. It exposes the underlying device topology as a directory tree. I'm not sure how sysfs applies to 'filesystem' as it depicts a particular 'device hierarchy tree' within a kernel. As Greg mentioned here, lot filesystem drivers still prefer to use the ioctl interface. However, one use for it which I can see, is for controlling the underlying block device (hard-disk, USB mass storage etc). HTH, -mandeep _______________________________________________ Kernelnewbies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.kernelnewbies.org/mailman/listinfo/kernelnewbies
