MAKEDEV(8) System Manager's Manual MAKEDEV(8)NAME
makedev - make system special files
SYNOPSIS
/dev/MAKEDEV device...
DESCRIPTION
MAKEDEV is a shell script normally used to install special files. It resides in the /dev directory, as this is the normal location of spe-
cial files. Arguments to MAKEDEV are usually of the form device-name? where device-name is one of the supported devices listed in section
4 of the manual and ``?'' is a logical unit number (0-9). A few special arguments create assorted collections of devices and are listed
below.
std Create the standard devices for the system; e.g. /dev/console, /dev/tty. The VAX-11/780 console floppy device, /dev/floppy, and
VAX-11/750 and VAX-11/730 console cassette device(s), /dev/tu?, are also created with this entry.
local Create those devices specific to the local site. This request causes the shell file /dev/MAKEDEV.local to be executed. Site spe-
cific commands, such as those used to setup dialup lines as ``ttyd?'' should be included in this file.
Since all devices are created using mknod(8), this shell script is useful only to the super-user.
DIAGNOSTICS
Either self-explanatory, or generated by one of the programs called from the script. Use ``sh -x MAKEDEV'' in case of trouble.
SEE ALSO intro(4), config(8), mknod(8)4.2 Berkeley Distribution May 19, 1986 MAKEDEV(8)
Check Out this Related Man Page
MKNOD(8) BSD System Manager's Manual MKNOD(8)NAME
mknod -- make device special file
SYNOPSIS
mknod [-F format] name [c | b] major minor
[-F format] name [c | b] major unit subunit
name [c | b] number
name [p]
DESCRIPTION
The mknod command creates device special files. Normally the shell script /dev/MAKEDEV is used to create special files for commonly known
devices; it executes mknod with the appropriate arguments and can make all the files required for the device.
To make nodes manually, the required arguments are:
name Device name, for example ``sd'' for a SCSI disk on an HP300 or a ``pty'' for pseudo-devices.
b | c | 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 b. All other devices are character type devices, such as terminal and pseudo devices, and are type c. To create named pipes
the type p can be used.
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 /dev/MAKEDEV to see if the device is known, or check the system depen-
dent device configuration file:
``/usr/src/sys/conf/device.architecture''
(for example device.hp300).
minor The minor device number tells the kernel which one of several similar devices the node corresponds to; for example, it may be a spe-
cific serial port or pty.
unit and 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 bsdos format, for compatibility with the
BSD/OS mknod(8) .)
Device numbers for different operating systems may be packed in a different format. To create device nodes that may be used by such an oper-
ating system (e.g. in an exported file system used for netbooting), the -F option is used. The following formats are recognized: native,
386bsd, 4bsd, bsdos, freebsd, hpux, isc, linux, netbsd, osf1, sco, solaris, sunos, svr3, svr4 and ultrix.
Alternatively, a single opaque device number may be specified.
SEE ALSO mkfifo(1), mkfifo(2), mknod(2), MAKEDEV(8)HISTORY
A mknod command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. The -F option appeared in NetBSD 1.4.
NetBSD 1.4 September 11, 1998 NetBSD 1.4