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@(#)mknod.8 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
.Dd September 11, 1998 .Dt MKNOD 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm mknod .Nd make device special file .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl F Ar format .Ar name .Op Cm c | Cm b .Ar major minor .Nm "" .Op Fl F Ar format .Ar name .Op Cm c | Cm b .Ar major unit subunit .Nm "" .Ar name .Op Cm c | Cm b .Ar number .Nm "" .Ar name .Cm p .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm command creates device special files, or fifos. Normally the shell script
a /dev/MAKEDEV is used to create special files for commonly known devices; it executes .Nm with the appropriate arguments and can make all the files required for the device.
p To make nodes manually, the required arguments are:
p l -tag -width majorx t Ar name Device name, for example .Dq sd for a SCSI disk on an HP300 or a .Dq pty for pseudo-devices. t Cm b | Cm c | Cm p 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 pseudo devices, and are type .Cm c . Specifying .Cm p creates fifo files. t 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
a /dev/MAKEDEV to see if the device is known, or check the system dependent device configuration file: d -filled -offset indent .Dq Pa /usr/src/sys/arch/<arch>/<arch>/conf.c .Ed
p
o e.g.
a /usr/src/sys/arch/vax/vax/conf.c
c . t Ar minor The minor device number tells the kernel which one of several similar devices the node corresponds to; for example, it may be a specific serial port or pty. t Ar unit No and Ar subunit The unit and subunit numbers select a subset of a device; for example, the unit may specify a particular SCSI disk, and the subunit a partition on that disk. (Currently this form of specification is only supported by the .Ar bsdos format, for compatibility with the sx .Xr mknod 8 ) . .El
p The .Fl F option is used to create device nodes that may be used by an operating system which uses device numbers packed in a different format than .Nx uses. This is necessary when .Nx is used as an .Tn NFS server for netbooted computers running other operating systems.
p The following values for the .Ar format following .Fl F are recognized: .Sy native , .Sy 386bsd , .Sy 4bsd , .Sy bsdos , .Sy freebsd , .Sy hpux , .Sy isc , .Sy linux , .Sy netbsd , .Sy osf1 , .Sy sco , .Sy solaris , .Sy sunos , .Sy svr3 , .Sy svr4 , and .Sy ultrix .
p Alternatively, a single opaque device number may be specified. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr mkfifo 1 , .Xr mkfifo 2 , .Xr mknod 2 , .Xr MAKEDEV 8 .Sh HISTORY A .Nm command appeared in .At v6 . The .Fl F option appeared in .Nx 1.4 .