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