[gentoo-dev] hotplug vs. usbmgr

[Joseph Carter]

The original equivalent of cardmgr for USB devices in Linux was a set of
scripts known simply as hotplug, which Gentoo still uses (and is largely
alone in doing so..)

Since then, a couple of alternatives have been produced, including usbmgr
which includes a much more current mapping of devices and drivers.  It's
easier to configure, has more and better information for doing its thing,
and offers a few other features hotplug lacks, such as the option for
notify beeps similar to those provided by cardmgr, which are useful for
testing.


Is there some particular reason why Gentoo is using hotplug that I am
unaware of?  The only advantage to hotplug in my mind is that it's
supposed to be a generic hotplug device interface, rather than simply a
USB device manager.  hotplug can in theory replace cardmgr, provide the
same functionality for FireWire, Bluetooth, and hotswap PCI devices as
well as USB, avoiding the need for seperate tools and daemons to handle
each.

That sort of setup with hotplug might be useful on a notebook where the
savings in CPU may result in a few more minutes of battery life (hey,
every second counts!), or shorten the boot sequence a little, but since
that's not being done, it seems a better course to me to suggest that we
should use the better USB tool.  =)

-- 
Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@×××.org>                       This thing is an AI
 
Most of us feel that marketing types are like a dangerous weapon - keep
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