1 '\" te
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   6 .TH MKNOD 1M "Sep 16, 1996"
   7 .SH NAME
   8 mknod \- make a special file
   9 .SH SYNOPSIS
  10 .LP
  11 .nf
  12 \fBmknod\fR \fIname\fR b \fImajor\fR \fIminor\fR
  13 .fi
  14 
  15 .LP
  16 .nf
  17 \fBmknod\fR \fIname\fR c \fImajor\fR \fIminor\fR
  18 .fi
  19 
  20 .LP
  21 .nf
  22 \fBmknod\fR \fIname\fR p
  23 .fi
  24 
  25 .SH DESCRIPTION
  26 .sp
  27 .LP
  28 \fBmknod\fR makes a directory entry for a special file.
  29 .SH OPTIONS
  30 .sp
  31 .LP
  32 The following options are supported:
  33 .sp
  34 .ne 2
  35 .na
  36 \fB\fBb\fR\fR
  37 .ad
  38 .RS 5n
  39 Create a block-type special file.
  40 .RE
  41 
  42 .sp
  43 .ne 2
  44 .na
  45 \fB\fBc\fR\fR
  46 .ad
  47 .RS 5n
  48 Create a character-type special file.
  49 .RE
  50 
  51 .sp
  52 .ne 2
  53 .na
  54 \fB\fBp\fR\fR
  55 .ad
  56 .RS 5n
  57 Create a FIFO (named pipe).
  58 .RE
  59 
  60 .SH OPERANDS
  61 .sp
  62 .LP
  63 The following operands are supported:
  64 .sp
  65 .ne 2
  66 .na
  67 \fB\fImajor\fR\fR
  68 .ad
  69 .RS 9n
  70 The \fImajor\fR device number.
  71 .RE
  72 
  73 .sp
  74 .ne 2
  75 .na
  76 \fB\fIminor\fR\fR
  77 .ad
  78 .RS 9n
  79 The \fIminor\fR device number; can be either decimal or octal. The assignment
  80 of major device numbers is specific to each system. You must be the super-user
  81 to use this form of the command.
  82 .RE
  83 
  84 .sp
  85 .ne 2
  86 .na
  87 \fB\fIname\fR\fR
  88 .ad
  89 .RS 9n
  90 A special file to be created.
  91 .RE
  92 
  93 .SH USAGE
  94 .sp
  95 .LP
  96 See \fBlargefile\fR(5) for the description of the behavior of \fBmknod\fR when
  97 encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
  98 .SH SEE ALSO
  99 .sp
 100 .LP
 101 \fBftp\fR(1), \fBin.ftpd\fR(1M), \fBmknod\fR(2), \fBsymlink\fR(2),
 102 \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBlargefile\fR(5)
 103 .SH NOTES
 104 .sp
 105 .LP
 106 If \fBmknod\fR(2) is used to create a device, the major and minor device
 107 numbers are always interpreted by the kernel running on that machine.
 108 .sp
 109 .LP
 110 With the advent of physical device naming, it would be preferable to create a
 111 symbolic link to the physical name of the device (in the \fB/devices\fR
 112 subtree) rather than using \fBmknod\fR.