clone(7)                                                           clone(7)


   NAME
         clone - open any major/minor device pair on a STREAMS driver

   DESCRIPTION
         clone is a STREAMS software driver that finds and opens an unused
         major/minor device on another STREAMS driver.  The major device
         number passed to clone during open corresponds to the clone driver
         and the minor device number corresponds to the target driver.  Each
         open results in a separate stream to a previously unused major/minor
         device.

         The clone driver consists solely of an open function.  This open
         function performs all of the necessary work so that subsequent system
         calls [including close(2)] require no further involvement of clone.

         clone will generate an ENXIO error, without opening the device, if
         the major/minor device number provided does not correspond to a valid
         major/minor device, or if the driver indicated is not a STREAMS
         driver.

   SEE ALSO
         log(7).
         Programmer's Guide: STREAMS.

   NOTES
         Multiple opens of the same major/minor device cannot be done through
         the clone interface.  Executing stat(2) on the file system node for a
         cloned device yields a different result from executing fstat(2) using
         a file descriptor obtained from opening the node.
























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