/dev/raw support?

[Alan Shutko]

PhiloVivero <pvspam-dntrepl at hacklab.net> writes:

> There's some chmod you can do on your DVD device to turn off buffering
> for the device. When you're accessing /dev/dvd you're using the raw
> device whereas if you somehow mounted /dev/dvd to the filesystem, then
> used files in that directory, you'd be using 'cooked.'

Could you please check
http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0105.2/0592.html
and explain please?

As I understand it, access to /dev/hdc or /dev/dvd is still going
through the buffer cache, though not the page cache.  /dev/raw* was
devised to stop this, and OMS and xine both claim to support it.

> -- this is why Sybase/Oracle et al were slow to
> support Linux.

This is new functionality in the 2.4 kernel, but Oracle and Sybase
have supported Linux for several years now...

> Sorry for the mostly RDBMS-related discussion, but it gives a little
> background to understand the confusion and misinformation about this
> topic.

It's ok, but I'm still confused.

-- 
Alan Shutko <ats at acm.org> - In a variety of flavors!
Since GOD spelled backwards is DOG, is my poodle Satan?