test/expected/LWN/0000764057.header

   1 0[$] IDA: simplifying the complex task of allocating integers   null/LWN/0000764057             70
   2 i  [Kernel] Sep 4, 2018 0:15 UTC (Tue) (corbet)
   3 i
   4 i    It  is  common  for kernel code to generate unique integers for
   5 i    identifiers.  When  one plugs in a flash drive, it will show up
   6 i    as  /dev/sdN;  that  N (a letter derived from a number) must be
   7 i    generated  in  the  kernel, and it should not already be in use
   8 i    for  another  drive or unpleasant things will happen. One might
   9 i    think  that  generating  such  numbers would not be a difficult
  10 i    task,  but  that  turns  out  not to be the case, especially in
  11 i    situations  where  many  numbers  must be tracked. The IDA (for
  12 i    "ID  allocator", perhaps) API exists to handle this specialized
  13 i    task.  In  past  kernels, it has managed to make the process of
  14 i    getting  an unused number surprisingly complex; the 4.19 kernel
  15 i    has a new IDA API that simplifies things considerably.
  16 i