Block devices

    Sometime recently it seems to have become possible to disable the
whole block device subsystem.
    Though in my tests I can't quit build with it disabled.

     Anyway, for an embedded device this might be appealing.
    how does this interact with initramfs and flash ?
   
    Can I boot an initramfs kernel without a block device ?
    Can I write a filesystem driver for a flash device that does not
require a block device ?
    Are their any examples of something even close ?

   

      







-- 
Dave Lynch 					  	    DLA Systems
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Over 25 years' experience in platforms, languages, and technologies too numerous to list.

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On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 02:05:52AM -0500, David H. Lynch Jr. wrote:

    Can I boot an initramfs kernel without a block device ?

Yes.

    Can I write a filesystem driver for a flash device that does not
require a block device ?

Yes.

    Are their any examples of something even close ?

For that particular flash case there's just jffs2 in the kernel tree,
with some more flash filesystems under development.  You can of
course have network and in-memory filesystems aswell.