devlinks(1M) System Administration Commands devlinks(1M)
NAME
devlinks - adds /dev entries for miscellaneous devices and pseudo-devices
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/devlinks [-d] [-r rootdir] [-t table-file]
DESCRIPTION
devfsadm(1M) is now the preferred command for /dev and /devices and should be used instead of devlinks.
devlinks creates symbolic links from the /dev directory tree to the actual block- and character-special device nodes under the /devices
directory tree. The links are created according to specifications found in the table-file (by default /etc/devlink.tab).
devlinks is called each time the system is reconfiguration-booted, and can only be run after drvconfig(1M) is run.
The table-file (normally /etc/devlink.tab) is an ASCII file, with one line per record. Comment lines, which must contain a hash character
(`#') as their first character, are allowed. Each entry must contain at least two fields, but may contain three fields. Fields are sepa-
rated by single TAB characters.
The fields are:
devfs-spec Specification of devinfo nodes that will have links created for them. This specification consists of one or more
keyword-value pairs, where the keyword is separated from the value by an equal-sign (`='), and keyword-value pairs
are separated from one another by semicolons.
The possible keywords are:
type The devinfo device type. Possible values are specified in ddi_create_minor_node(9F)
name The name of the node. This is the portion of the /devices tree entry name that occurs before the
first `@' or `:' character.
addr[n] The address portion of a node name. This is the portion of a node name that occurs between the `@'
and the `:' characters. It is possible that a node may have a name without an address part, which
is the case for many of the pseudo-device nodes. If a number is given after the addr it specifies a
match of a particular comma-separated subfield of the address field: addr1 matches the first sub-
field, addr2 matches the second, and so on. addr0 is the same as addr and matches the whole field.
minor[n] The minor portion of a node name - the portion of the name after the `:'. As with addr above, a
number after the minor keyword specifies a subfield to match.
Of these four specifications, only the type specification must always be present.
name Specification of the /dev links that correspond to the devinfo nodes. This field allows devlinks to determine
matching /dev names for the /devices nodes it has found. The specification of this field uses escape-sequences to
allow portions of the /devices name to be included in the /dev name, or to allow a counter to be used in creating
node names. If a counter is used to create a name, the portion of the name before the counter must be specified
absolutely, and all names in the /dev/-subdirectory that match (up to and including the counter) are considered to
be subdevices of the same device. This means that they should all point to the same directory, name and address
under the /devices/-tree
The possible escape-sequences are:
D Substitute the device-name (name) portion of the corresponding devinfo node-name.
An Substitute the nth component of the address component of the corresponding devinfo node name. Sub-compo-
nents are separated by commas, and sub-component 0 is the whole address component.
Mn Substitute the nth sub-component of the minor component of the corresponding devinfo node name. Sub-compo-
nents are separated by commas, and sub-component 0 is the whole minor component.
Nn Substitute the value of a 'counter' starting at n. There can be only one counter for each dev-spec, and
counter-values will be selected so they are as low as possible while not colliding with already-existing
link names.
In a dev-spec the counter sequence should not be followed by a digit, either explicitly or as a result of
another escape-sequence expansion. If this occurs, it would not be possible to correctly match already-
existing links to their counter entries, since it would not be possible to unambiguously parse the
already-existing /dev-name.
extra-dev-link Optional specification of an extra /dev link that points to the initial /dev link (specified in field 2). This
field may contain a counter escape-sequence (as described for the dev-spec field) but may not contain any of the
other escape-sequences. It provides a way to specify an alias of a particular /dev name.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-d Debugging mode - print out all devinfo nodes found, and indicate what links would be created, but do not do anything.
-r rootdir Use rootdir as the root of the /dev and /devices directories under which the device nodes and links are created. Changing
the root directory does not change the location of the /etc/devlink.tab default table, nor is the root directory applied to
the filename supplied to the -t option.
-t table-file Set the table file used by devlinks to specify the links that must be created. If this option is not given,
/etc/devlink.tab is used. This option gives a way to instruct devlinks just to perform a particular piece of work, since
just the links-types that devlinks is supposed to create can be specified in a command-file and fed to devlinks.
ERRORS
If devlinks finds an error in a line of the table-file it prints a warning message on its standard output and goes on to the next line in
the table-file without performing any of the actions specified by the erroneous rule.
If it cannot create a link for some filesystem-related reason it prints an error-message and continues with the current rule.
If it cannot read necessary data it prints an error message and continues with the next table-file line.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Using the /etc/devlink.tab Fields
The following are examples of the /etc/devlink.tab fields:
type=pseudo;name=win winM0
type=ddi_display framebuffer/M0 fbN0
The first example states that all devices of type pseudo with a name component of win will be linked to /dev/winx, where x is the minor-
component of the devinfo-name (this is always a single-digit number for the win driver).
The second example states that all devinfo nodes of type ddi_display will be linked to entries under the /dev/framebuffer directory, with
names identical to the entire minor component of the /devices name. In addition an extra link will be created pointing from /dev/fbn to the
entry under /dev/framebuffer. This entry will use a counter to end the name.
FILES
/dev entries for the miscellaneous devices for general use
/devices device nodes
/etc/devlink.tab the default rule-file
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWcsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
devfsadm(1M), attributes(5), devfs(7FS), ddi_create_minor_node(9F)
BUGS
It is very easy to construct mutually-contradictory link specifications, or specifications that can never be matcshed. The program does not
check for these conditions.
SunOS 5.10 15 Jul 2002 devlinks(1M)