[MPlayer-dev-eng] [PATCH] mga_vid and tdfx_vid char-major with module parameter

[Hans-Andreas Engel]

On Friday, March 14, 2003, at 08:18 AM, Alban Bedel wrote:

> Hi Hans-Andreas Engel,
>
> on Thu, 13 Mar 2003 12:31:24 +0100 you wrote:
>
>> Hello.
>>
>> Please consider adding the following patch to the cvs:
>>
>> This patch adds a module parameter "major" to the
>> mga_vid.o module. This allows to use a different major
>> number than 178 at runtime. This is the same parameter
>> name as in other kernel modules, e.g., in "pd", "pf", and
>> "pg".
>>
> BTW for tdfx_vid i just used the same major,minor as mga_vid. That's
> probably not a so good idea. I don't really know what minor are for. So
> what are the advice, use another major or minor ?
> 	Albeu

As Tobias points out, the minor number can basically be used as an 
additional parameter for your driver, e.g., using it to address 
individual devices of the same kind.

On the other hand, majors identify the device type. This allows 
autoloading of drivers by adding the corresponding "alias 
char-major-..." entry to modules.conf. So, if a user runs two video 
cards, both requiring a different driver, two separate major numbers are 
required for loading both drivers.

Hansres