path_to_inst(4) 						   File Formats 						   path_to_inst(4)

NAME

       path_to_inst - device instance number file

SYNOPSIS

       /etc/path_to_inst

DESCRIPTION

       /etc/path_to_inst records mappings of physical device names to instance numbers.

       The  instance  number  of  a  device  is  encoded in its minor number, and is the way that a device driver determines which of the possible
       devices that it may drive is referred to by a given special file.

       In order to keep instance numbers persistent across reboots, the system records them in /etc/path_to_inst.

       This file is read only at boot time, and is updated by add_drv(1M) and devfsadm(1M).

       Note that it is generally not necessary for the system administrator to change this file, as the system will maintain it.

       The system administrator can change the assignment of instance numbers by editing this file and doing a	reconfiguration  reboot.  However,
       any changes made in this file will be lost if add_drv(1M) or devfsadm(1M) is run before the system is rebooted.

       Each instance entry is a single line of the form:

	 "physical name" instance number "driver binding name"

       where

       physical name	      is the absolute physical pathname of a device. This pathname must be enclosed in double quotes.

       instance number	      is a decimal or hexadecimal number.

       driver binding name    is  the  name  used  to  determine  the driver for the device. This name may be a driver alias or a driver name. The
			      driver binding name must be enclosed in double quotes.

EXAMPLES

       Example 1 Sample path_to_inst Entries

       Here are some sample path_to_inst entries:

	 "/iommu@f,e0000000" 0 "iommu"
	 "/iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000" 0 "sbus"
	 "/iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/sbusmem@e,0" 14 "sbusmem"
	 "/iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/sbusmem@f,0" 15 "sbusmem"
	 "/iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/ledma@f,400010" 0 "ledma"
	 "/obio/serial@0,100000" 0 "zs"
	 "/SUNW,sx@f,80000000" 0 "SUNW,sx"

FILES

       /etc/path_to_inst    Mapping of physical device names to instance numbers.

SEE ALSO

       add_drv(1M), boot(1M), devfsadm(1M), mknod(1M)

WARNINGS

       If the file is removed the system may not be bootable (as it may rely on information found in this file to  find  the  root,  usr  or  swap
       device).  If  it does successfully boot, it will regenerate the file, but after rebooting devices may end up having different minor numbers
       than they did before, and special files created via mknod(1M) may refer to different devices than expected.

       For the same reasons, changes should not be made to this file without careful consideration.

NOTES

       This document does not constitute an API. path_to_inst may not exist or may have a different content or interpretation in a future release.
       The existence of this notice does not imply that any other documentation that lacks this notice constitutes an API.

SunOS 5.11							    18 May 2007 						   path_to_inst(4)