Subject: Re: USB feedback wanted
To: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
From: Nathan J. Williams <nathanw@MIT.EDU>
List: tech-kern
Date: 07/01/1998 11:50:20
>> usbhub2 at usbhub1 port 2
>> usbaudio0 at usbhub2 port 0
>> usbaudio1 at usbhub2 port 1
>
>Bill, these are *not* nailed down. You can't driven nails into
>sand;). Maybe if you have the machine in a physically-secure space or
>you can mandate "don't touch the USB", this counts as nailed down.
>But that assumption doesn't hold everywhere.
The point is to keep device assignments for unmoved devices
from changing if you add other devices or remove existing
devices. There is no requirement that a wired-down configuration
continue to work if you reshuffle devices; in fact, we're rapidly
concluding here that without some kind of unique IDs on each and every
device, it's utterly impossible.
If you're in the situation where devices may move, then you
must wildcard, and you must give up knowing which of several identical
devices is which.
It is the system administrator that *can* enforce that devices
don't get reshuffled who is going to benefit from wiring down the
configuration.
- Nathan