Accessing serial port information in privilege restricted directory

Hi,

I am writing an application that needs to access information stored in
files /proc/tty/device/*, but the directory /proc/tty/device only
allows root access. The directory contains files that indicate the serial
ports available for use on the system, both traditional and USB adapter
types.

Has anyone got an idea why the /proc/tty/device directory is restricted
to root? Basically, I'm trying to work out what the best approach to take
with my application, which runs with user privileges.

Thanks,

Paul.

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On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 18:54:40 +0100, Paul Taylor wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am writing an application that needs to access information stored in
> files /proc/tty/device/*, but the directory /proc/tty/device only
> allows root access. The directory contains files that indicate the serial
> ports available for use on the system, both traditional and USB adapter
> types.
>
> Has anyone got an idea why the /proc/tty/device directory is restricted
> to root? Basically, I'm trying to work out what the best approach to take
> with my application, which runs with user privileges.
>

I guess the directory is restricted for similar reasons that the ttySx and
ttyUSBx device nodes are restricted. If an application needs to use a
serial port then the sysadmin needs to make changes to allow serial port
access. I guess the sysadmin would need to make changes in the same vein
to allow a user program to access the files indicating which ports are
available for use.

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