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.Dd @@@DATE@@@ .Dt MAKEDEV 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm MAKEDEV .Nd create system and device special files .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl fMs .Op Fl m Ar mknod .Op Fl p Ar pax ro Ar special | device Brc Op Ar ... .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm is used to create system and device special files. As arguments it takes the names of known devices, like .Ar sd0 , or of special targets, like
a all or
a std , which create a collection of device special files, or
a local , which invokes .Xr MAKEDEV.local 8 with the
a all argument.
p The script is in
a /dev/MAKEDEV and must be called from the
a /dev directory. For the creation of the devices, .Xr mknod 8 is used, which can only be used for creating devices by the super-user. The .Xr mknod 8 used can be overridden by the .Fl m flag.
p Supported options are: l -tag -width XmXmknodXX t Fl f Force permissions to be updated on existing devices. This works only if .Xr mknod 8 is used; it is not compatible with the .Fl p or .Fl s options. t Fl M Create a memory filesystem, union mounted over the current directory, to contain the device special files.
p If the .Fl M flag is specified more than once, then .Nm assumes that it is being invoked from .Xr init 1 to populate a memory file system for
a /dev . In this case, .Nm will also redirect its output to the system console. t Fl m Ar mknod Name of .Xr mknod 8 program. [Usually, $TOOL_MKNOD or mknod.] t Fl p Ar pax Name of .Xr pax 1 program. [Usually, $TOOL_PAX or mknod.] If this is specified, then instead of creating device nodes one by one using .Xr mknod 8 , .Nm will create device nodes all at once using .Xr pax 1 . This is more efficient when many device nodes are involved. t Fl s Generate .Xr mtree 8 specfile instead of creating devices. .El
p The .Fl m , Fl p , and .Fl s flags are mutually exclusive. If none of these flags is specified, then .Nm will use the .Xr pax 1 command if it appears to be usable, falling back to the .Xr mknod 8 command if necessary.
p The special targets supported on .Nx are:
p @@@SPECIAL@@@
p Please note that any hash marks
q Dq # in the following list of supported device targets must be replaced by digits when calling .Nm :
p @@@DEVICES@@@ .Sh ENVIRONMENT The following environment variables affect the execution of .Nm :
p l -tag -width indent t Ev MAKEDEV_AS_LIBRARY If this is set, then .Nm will define several shell functions and then return, ignoring all its command line options and arguments. This is used to enable .Xr MAKEDEV.local 8 to use the shell functions defined in .Nm . .El .Sh FILES l -tag -width "/dev/MAKEDEV.local" -compact t Pa /dev special device files directory t Pa /dev/MAKEDEV script described in this man page t Pa /dev/MAKEDEV.local script for site-specific devices .El .Sh DIAGNOSTICS If the script reports an error that is difficult to understand, you can get more debugging output by using .Dl Ic sh Fl x Ar MAKEDEV Ar argument . .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr config 1 , .Xr init 1 , .Xr pax 1 , .Xr intro 4 , .Xr MAKEDEV.local 8 , .Xr diskless 8 , .Xr mknod 8 , .Xr mtree 8 .Sh HISTORY The .Nm command appeared in x 4.2 . The ability to be used as a function library was added in .Nx 5.0 . .Sh NOTES Not all devices listed in this manpage are supported on all platforms.
p This man page is generated automatically from the same sources as
a /dev/MAKEDEV , in which the device files are not always sorted, which may result in an unusual (non-alphabetical) order.
p In order to allow a diskless .Nx client to obtain its
a /dev directory from a file server running a foreign operating system, one of the following techniques may be useful to populate a directory of device nodes on the foreign server: l -bullet t If the foreign server is sufficiently similar to .Nx , run .Nm in an appropriate directory of the foreign server, using the .Fl m flag to refer to a script that converts from command line arguments that would be usable with the .Nx .Xr mknod 8 command to the equivalent commands for the foreign server. t Run .Nm with the .Fl s flag to generate an .Xr mtree 8 specification file; this can be done on any host with a POSIX-compliant shell and a few widely-available utilities. Use the .Xr pax 1 command with the .Fl w Fl M flags to convert the .Xr mtree 8 specification file into an archive in a format that supports device nodes (such as .Ar ustar format); this can be done on a .Nx host, or can be done in a cross-build environment using .Sy TOOLDIR Ns Pa /bin/nbpax . Finally, use apropriate tools on the foreign server to unpack the archive and create the device nodes. .El
Indexes created Mon Oct 20 20:10:13 GMT 2025