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

NAME
     mmkknnoodd - make device special file

SYNOPSIS
     mmkknnoodd [-FF format] name [cc | bb] major minor
     mmkknnoodd [-FF format] name [cc | bb] major unit subunit
     mmkknnoodd name [cc | bb] number

DESCRIPTION
     The mmkknnoodd command creates device special files.  Normally the shell
     script /dev/MAKEDEV is used to create special files for commonly known
     devices; it executes mmkknnoodd 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.

     bb | cc   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 bb.  All other devices are character type devices,
             such as terminal and pseudo devices, and are type cc.

     major   The major device number is an integer number which tells the ker-
             nel 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
             dependent 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
             specific 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 speci-
             fication 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 differ-
     ent format.  To create device nodes that may be used by such an operating
     system (e.g. in an exported file system used for netbooting), the -FF
     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 mmkknnoodd command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.  The -FF option appeared
     in NetBSD 1.4.

NetBSD 1.4                    September 11, 1998                    NetBSD 1.4