IDMKNOD(ADM) UNIX System V
Name
idmknod - removes nodes and reads specifications of nodes
Syntax
/etc/conf/bin/idmknod
Description
This command performs the following functions:
⊕ Removes the nodes for non-required devices (those that
do not have an `r' in field 3 of the device's mdevice
entry) from /dev. Ordinary files will not be removed.
If the /dev directory contains subdirectories, those
subdirectories will be transversed and nodes found for
non-required devices will be removed as well. If empty
subdirectories result due to the removal of nodes, the
subdirectories are then removed.
⊕ Reads the specifications of nodes given in the files
contained in /etc/conf/node.d and installs these nodes
in /dev. If the node specification defines a path
containing subdirectories, the subdirectories will be
made automatically.
⊕ Returns 0 on success and a positive number on error.
The idmknod command is run automatically upon entering init
state 2 on the next system reboot after a kernel
reconfiguration to establish the correct representation of
device nodes in the /dev directory for the running /unix
kernel. idmknod can be called as a user level command to
test modification of the /dev directory before a DSP is
actually built. It is also useful in installation scripts
that do not reconfigure the kernel, but need to create /dev
entries.
The files in /etc/conf/node.d are copies of the Node modules
installed by device Driver Software Packages (DSP). There
is at most one file per DSP. Each file contains one line
for each node that is to be installed. The format of each
line is:
Name of device entry (field 1) in the mdevice file (The
mdevice entry will be the line installed by the DSP
from its Master module). This field must be from 1 to
8 characters in length. The first character must be a
letter. The others may be letters, digits, or
underscores.
Name of node to be inserted in /dev. The first
character must be a letter. The others may be letters,
digits, or underscores. This field can be a path
relative to /dev, and idmknod will create
subdirectories as needed.
The character b or c. A b indicates that the node is a
`block' type device and c indicates `character' type
device.
Minor device number. This value must be between 0 and
255. If this field is a non-numeric, it is assumed to
be a request for a streams clone device node, and
idmknod will set the minor number to the value of the
major number of the device specified.
Some example node file entries are as follows:
asy tty00 c 1
makes /dev/tty00 for device `asy' using minor device 1.
qt rmt/c0s0 c 4
makes /dev/rmt/c0s0 for device `qt' using minor device
4.
clone net/nau/clone c nau
makes /dev/net/nau/clone for device `clone'. The minor
device number is set to the major device number of
device `nau'.
The command line options are:
-o directory Nodes will be installed in the directory
specified rather than /dev.
-i directory The file mdevice which normally resides in
/etc/conf/cf.d, can be found in the directory
specified.
-e directory The Node modules that normally reside in
/etc/conf/node.d can be found in the
directory specified.
-s Suppress removing nodes (just add new nodes).
Diagnostics
An exit value of zero indicates success. If an error was
encountered due to a syntax or format error in a node entry,
an advisory message will be printed to stdout and the
command will continue. If a serious error is encountered
(i.e., a required file cannot be found), idmknod will exit
with a non-zero value and report an error message. All
error messages are designed to be self-explanatory.
See Also
idinstall(ADM), idmkinit(ADM), mdevice(F), sdevice(F)
(printed 8/23/89) IDMKNOD(ADM)