My question is, why netlink sockets are better than ioctls? It is not yet another interface to use as a wildcard to pass any data you wan't between the kernel and userpace with the only difference that you use another paradigm? (network sockets with a specific protocol family instead file operations over a device).
Sorry if my question is stupid but I just don't get the point.
Regards,
Javier,
I think the main issue with ioctl is that with some architectures, the userspace and kernel compiler treat 64-bit structure members differently, so it is very easy to create a structure which can not easily be passed via a simple pointer in-all-architectures.
With netlink sockets, one is expected to have a well defined byte order coming across the socket.
Greg
Greg, Thank you very much for your answer, I wasn't aware of that ioctl limitation. Best regards, -- Javier MartÃnez Canillas (+34) 682 39 81 69 PhD Student in High Performance Computing Computer Architecture and Operating System Department (CAOS) Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona, Spain