Linux kernel design patterns - part 3 Jul 10, 2009, 12 :04 UTC (0 Talkback[s]) (2465 reads) (Other stories by Neil Brown)
"Like every pattern, this pattern needs a name, and our working title is "midlayer mistake". This makes it sounds more like an anti-pattern, as it appears to describe something that should be avoided. While that is valid, it is also very strongly a pattern with firm prescriptive guides. When you start seeing a "midlayer" you know you are in the target area for this pattern and it is time to see if this pattern applies and wants to guide you in a different direction.
"In the Linux world, the term "midlayer" seems (in your author's mind and also in Google's cache) most strongly related to SCSI. The "scsi midlayer" went through a bad patch quite some years ago, and there was plenty of debate on the relevant lists as to why it failed to do what was needed. It was watching those discussions that provided the germ from which this pattern slowly took form."
