.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
.\" @(#)mknod.8 8.1 (Berkeley) %G%
command creates device special files.
Normally the shell script
is used to create special files for commonly known devices; it executes
with the appropriate arguments and can make all the files required for the
To make nodes manually, the four required arguments are:
for a SCSI disk on an HP300 or a
device is a block type device such as a tape or disk drive which needs
both cooked and raw special files,
All other devices are character type devices, such as terminal
and psuedo devices, and are type
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
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
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
command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.