[unix-history] / sbin / mknod / mknod.8

.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)mknod.8	6.4 (Berkeley) 3/16/91
.\"
.Dd March 16, 1991
.Dt MKNOD 8
.Os BSD 4
.Sh NAME
.Nm mknod
.Nd build special file
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm mknod
.Ar name
.Op Cm c | Cm b
.Ar major minor
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm mknod
command creates device special files.
Normally the shell script
.Pa /dev/MAKEDEV
is used to create special files for commonly known devices; it executes
.Nm mknod
with the appropriate arguments and can make all the files required for the
device.
.Pp
To make nodes manually, the four required arguments are:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width majorx
.It Ar name
Device name, for example
.Dq sd
for a SCSI disk on an HP300 or a
.Dq pty
for pseudo-devices.
.It Cm b | Cm c
Type of device. If the
device is a block type device such as a tape or disk drive which needs
both cooked and raw special files,
the type is
.Cm b .
All other devices are character type devices, such as terminal
and psuedo devices, and are type
.Cm c .
.It Ar major
The major device number is an integer number which tells the kernel
which device driver entry point to use.  To learn what
major device number to use for a particular device, check the file
.Pa /dev/MAKEDEV
to see if the device is known, or check
the system dependent device configuration file:
.Bd -filled -offset indent
.Dq Pa /usr/src/sys/conf/device. Ns Em architecture
.Ed
.Pp
(for example
.Pa device.hp300 ) .
.It Ar minor
The minor device number tells the kernel which subunit
the node corresponds to on the device; for example,
a subunit may be a filesystem partition
or a tty line.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr mknod 2 ,
.Xr makedev 8
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
Commit	Line	Data
15637ed4 RG	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991 Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved.
	3	.\"
	4	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	5	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	6	.\" are met:
	7	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	8	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	9	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	10	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	11	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	12	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	13	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	14	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	15	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	16	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	17	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	18	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	19	.\"
	20	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	21	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	22	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	23	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	24	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	25	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	26	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	27	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	28	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	29	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	30	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	31	.\"
	32	.\" @(#)mknod.8 6.4 (Berkeley) 3/16/91
	33	.\"
	34	.Dd March 16, 1991
	35	.Dt MKNOD 8
	36	.Os BSD 4
	37	.Sh NAME
	38	.Nm mknod
	39	.Nd build special file
	40	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	41	.Nm mknod
	42	.Ar name
	43	.Op Cm c \| Cm b
	44	.Ar major minor
	45	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	46	The
	47	.Nm mknod
	48	command creates device special files.
	49	Normally the shell script
	50	.Pa /dev/MAKEDEV
	51	is used to create special files for commonly known devices; it executes
	52	.Nm mknod
	53	with the appropriate arguments and can make all the files required for the
	54	device.
	55	.Pp
	56	To make nodes manually, the four required arguments are:
	57	.Pp
	58	.Bl -tag -width majorx
	59	.It Ar name
	60	Device name, for example
	61	.Dq sd
	62	for a SCSI disk on an HP300 or a
	63	.Dq pty
	64	for pseudo-devices.
65	.It Cm b \| Cm c
66	Type of device. If the
67	device is a block type device such as a tape or disk drive which needs
68	both cooked and raw special files,
69	the type is
70	.Cm b .
71	All other devices are character type devices, such as terminal
72	and psuedo devices, and are type
73	.Cm c .
74	.It Ar major
75	The major device number is an integer number which tells the kernel
76	which device driver entry point to use. To learn what
77	major device number to use for a particular device, check the file
78	.Pa /dev/MAKEDEV
79	to see if the device is known, or check
80	the system dependent device configuration file:
81	.Bd -filled -offset indent
82	.Dq Pa /usr/src/sys/conf/device. Ns Em architecture
83	.Ed
84	.Pp
85	(for example
86	.Pa device.hp300 ) .
87	.It Ar minor
88	The minor device number tells the kernel which subunit
89	the node corresponds to on the device; for example,
90	a subunit may be a filesystem partition
91	or a tty line.
92	.El
93	.Sh SEE ALSO
94	.Xr mknod 2 ,
95	.Xr makedev 8
96	.Sh HISTORY
97	A
98	.Nm
99	command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.