mknod(8) [osf1 man page]

mknod(8)						      System Manager's Manual							  mknod(8)

NAME

       mknod - Creates a special file

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/sbin/mknod special_file [ b major_device# minor_device# |  c major_device# minor_device#]

       /usr/sbin/mknod filename p

DESCRIPTION

       The  mknod  command makes a directory entry.  The first argument is the name of the special device file.  Select a name that is descriptive
       of the device.

       The mknod command has two forms.  In the first form, the second argument is the b or c flag.  The last two arguments are numbers specifying
       the major_device, which helps the operating system find the device driver code, and the minor_device, the unit drive, or line number, which
       may be either decimal or octal.

       The assignment of major device numbers is specific to each system.  You can determine the device numbers by  examining  the  conf.c  system
       source file.  If you change the contents of the conf.c file to add a device driver, you must rebuild the kernel.

       In the second form of mknod, you use the p flag to create named pipes (FIFOs).

       Only the superuser can create a character or device special file.

FLAGS

       Indicates  that	the  special  file  corresponds to a block-oriented device (disk or tape) Indicates that the special file corresponds to a
       character-oriented device Creates named pipes (FIFOs)

EXAMPLES

       To create the special file for a new drive, /dev/disk/dsk20, with a major device number of 1 and a minor device number of 2,  enter:  mknod
       /dev/disk/dsk20	b   1	2 This command creates the special file, /dev/disk/dsk20, which is a block special file with major device number 1
       and minor device number 2.  To create a pipe named fifo, enter: mknod fifo p This command creates the pipe fifo, which is  not  necessarily
       in the current directory.

FILES

       Specifies the command path Specifies the system device numbers specification file delim off

																	  mknod(8)

MKNOD(8)						    BSD System Manager's Manual 						  MKNOD(8)

NAME

     mknod -- make device special file

SYNOPSIS

     mknod [-F format] name [c | b] major minor
     mknod [-F format] name [c | b] major unit subunit
     mknod name [c | b] number
     mknod name w

DESCRIPTION

     The mknod command creates device special files.

     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 | w
	     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.  Whiteout nodes are type w.  All other devices are character type devices, such as terminal and pseudo devices, and are
	     type c.

     major   The major device number is an integer number which tells the kernel which device driver entry point to use.

     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)

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