MAKEDEV(8) | System Manager's Manual | MAKEDEV(8)

# NAME

`MAKEDEV` — create system and device special files

# SYNOPSIS

`MAKEDEV` | [`-fMsu`] [`-m` mknod] [`-p` pax] [`-t` mtree] {special | device} [...]

# DESCRIPTION

`MAKEDEV` is used to create system and device special files. As arguments it takes the names of known devices, like sd0, or of special targets, like all or std, which create a collection of device special files, or local, which invokes MAKEDEV.local(8) with the all argument.

The script is in /dev/MAKEDEV. Devices are created in the current working directory; in normal use, `MAKEDEV` should be invoked with /dev as the current working directory.

Supported options are:

`-f`
  Force permissions to be updated on existing devices. This works only if `MAKEDEV` invokes mknod(8); it is not compatible with the `-p`, `-s`, or `-t` options.
`-M`
  Create a memory file system, union mounted over the current directory, to contain the device special files. The memory file system is created using mount_tmpfs(8) or mount_mfs(8), in that order of preference.

  If the `-M` flag is specified more than once, then `MAKEDEV` assumes that it is being invoked from init(8) to populate a memory file system for /dev. In this case, `MAKEDEV` will also redirect its output to the system console.

`-m` mknod
  Force the use of mknod(8), and specify the name or path to the mknod(8) program. [Usually, $TOOL_MKNOD or mknod.]
`-p` pax
  Force the use of pax(1), and specify the name or path to the pax(1) program. [Usually, $TOOL_PAX or pax.]
`-s`
  Generate an mtree(8) specfile instead of creating devices.
`-t` mtree
  Force the use of mtree(8), and specify the name or path to the mtree(8) program. [Usually, $TOOL_MTREE or mtree.]
`-u`
  Don't re-create devices that already exist.

`MAKEDEV` has several possible methods of creating device nodes:

- By invoking the mknod(8) command once for each device node. This is the traditional method, but it is slow because each device node is created using a new process.

  The `-m` option forces `MAKEDEV` to use the mknod(8) method.

- By internally creating a specfile in a format usable by mtree(8), and providing the specfile on standard input to a pax(1) or mtree(8) command, invoked with options that request it to create the device nodes as well as any necessary subdirectories. This is much faster than creating device nodes with mknod(8), because it requires much fewer processes; however, it's not compatible with the `-f` option.

  The `-p` or `-t` options force `MAKEDEV` to use the pax(1) or mtree(8) methods.

- If the `-s` option is specified, then `MAKEDEV` will not create device nodes at all, but will output a specfile in a format usable by mtree(8).

The `-m`, `-p`, `-s`, and `-t` flags are mutually exclusive. If none of these flags is specified, then `MAKEDEV` will use mtree(8), pax(1), or mknod(8), in that order of preference, depending on which commands appear to be available and usable. In normal use, it's expected that mtree(8) will be available, so it will be chosen. If `MAKEDEV` is invoked by init(8), it's expected that mtree(8) will not be available, but pax(1) may be available.

The special targets supported on NetBSD are:

all
  Makes all known devices, including local devices. Tries to make the 'standard' number of each type.
init
  A set of devices that is used for MFS /dev by init. May be equal to ``all''.
floppy
  Devices to be put on install floppies
ramdisk
  Devices to be put into INSTALL kernel ramdisks.
std
  Standard devices
local
  Configuration specific devices
lua
  Lua device
wscons
  Make wscons devices
usbs
  Make USB devices

Please note that any hash marks (“#”) in the following list of supported device targets must be replaced by digits when calling `MAKEDEV`:

Tapes:
  st#
    SCSI tapes, see st(4)
  wt#
    QIC-interfaced (e.g. not SCSI) 3M cartridge tape, see wt(4)
  ht#
    MASSBUS TM03 and TU??, see vax/ht(4)
  mt#
    MSCP tapes (e.g. TU81, TK50), see vax/mt(4)
  tm#
    UNIBUS TM11 and TE10 emulations (e.g. Emulex TC-11), see vax/tm(4)
  ts#
    UNIBUS TS11, see vax/ts(4)
  ut#
    UNIBUS TU45 emulations (e.g. si 9700), see vax/ut(4)
  uu#
    TU58 cassettes on DL11 controller, see vax/uu(4)
Disks:
  dk#
    Wedge disk slices, see dk(4)
  ccd#
    Concatenated disk devices, see ccd(4)
  cd#
    SCSI or ATAPI CD-ROM, see cd(4)
  cgd#
    Cryptographic disk devices, see cgd(4)
  raid#
    RAIDframe disk devices, see raid(4)
  sd#
    SCSI disks, see sd(4)
  wd#
    ``winchester'' disk drives (ST506,IDE,ESDI,RLL,...), see wd(4)
  bmd#
    Nereid bank memory disks, see x68k/bmd(4)
  ed#
    IBM PS/2 ESDI disk devices, see edc(4)
  fd#
    ``floppy'' disk drives (3 1/2", 5 1/4"), see amiga/fdc(4), sparc64/fdc(4), x86/fdc(4)
  fss#
    Files system snapshot devices, see fss(4)
  gdrom#
    Dreamcast ``gigadisc'' CD-ROM drive, see dreamcast/gdrom(4)
  hk#
    UNIBUS RK06 and RK07, see vax/hk(4)
  hp#
    MASSBUS RM??, see vax/hp(4)
  ld#
    Logical disk devices (e.g., hardware RAID), see ld(4)
  mcd#
    Mitsumi CD-ROM, see mcd(4)
  md#
    Memory pseudo-disk devices, see md(4)
  ofdisk#
    OpenFirmware disk devices
  ra#
    MSCP disks (RA??, RD??)
  rb#
    730 IDC w/ RB80 and/or RB02
  rd#
    HDC9224 RD disks on VS2000, see hp300/rd(4)
  rl#
    UNIBUS RL02, see vax/rl(4)
  rx#
    MSCP floppy disk (RX33/50/...)
  up#
    Other UNIBUS devices (e.g. on Emulex SC-21V controller), see vax/up(4)
  vnd#
    ``file'' pseudo-disks, see vnd(4)
  xbd#
    Xen virtual disks, see xbd(4)
  xd#
    Xylogic 753/7053 disks, see sparc/xd(4)
  xy#
    Xylogic 450/451 disks, see sparc/xy(4)
Pointing devices:
  wsmouse#
    wscons mouse events, see wsmouse(4)
  lms#
    Logitech bus mouse, see i386/lms(4)
  mms#
    Microsoft bus mouse, see dreamcast/mms(4), i386/mms(4)
  qms#
    ``quadrature mouse'', see acorn32/qms(4)
  pms#
    PS/2 mouse
  mouse
    Mouse (provides events, for X11)
Keyboard devices:
  wskbd#
    wscons keyboard events, see wskbd(4)
  kbd
    Raw keyboard (provides events, for X11), see sparc/kbd(4), sun2/kbd(4), sun3/kbd(4)
  kbdctl
    Keyboard control
Terminals/Console ports:
  tty[01]#
    Standard serial ports, see tty(4)
  tty0#
    SB1250 (``sbscn'') serial ports (sbmips), see tty(4)
  ttyE#
    wscons - Workstation console (``wscons'') glass-tty emulators
  ttyCZ?
    Cyclades-Z multiport serial boards. Each ``unit'' makes 64 ports., see cz(4)
  ttyCY?
    Cyclom-Y multiport serial boards. Each ``unit'' makes 32 ports., see cy(4)
  ttye#
    ITE bitmapped consoles, see amiga/ite(4)
  ttyv0
    pccons
  ttyC?
    NS16550 (``com'') serial ports
  ttyS#
    SA1110 serial port (hpcarm)
  ttyTX?
    TX39 internal serial ports (hpcmips)
  ttyB?
    DEC 3000 ZS8530 (``scc'') serial ports (alpha)
  ttyA#
    Mfc serial ports (amiga)
  ttyB#
    Msc serial ports (amiga)
  ttyC#
    Com style serial ports (DraCo, HyperCom) (amiga) On the DraCo, units 0 and 1 are the built-in ``modem'' and ``mouse'' ports, if configured.
  ttyA0
    8530 Channel A (formerly ser02) (atari)
  ttyA1
    8530 Channel B (formerly mdm02) (atari)
  ttyB0
    UART on first 68901 (formerly mdm01) (atari)
  ixpcom
    IXP12x0 COM ports
  epcom
    EP93xx COM ports
  plcom
    ARM PL01[01] serial ports
  wmcom
    EPOC Windermere COM ports
  ttyM?
    HP200/300 4 port serial mux interface (hp300)
  ttya
    ``ttya'' system console (luna68k)
  ttyb
    Second system serial port (luna68k)
  tty#
    Onboard serial ports (mvme68k) On the mvme147 these are: ttyZ1, ttyZ2 and ttyZ3. On the mvme167, and '177: ttyC1, ttyC2 and ttyC3. Note that tty[CZ]0 is grabbed by the console device so is not created by default, see tty(4)
  dc#
    PMAX 4 channel serial interface (kbd, mouse, modem, printer)
  scc#
    82530 serial interface (pmax)
  ttyZ#
    Zilog 8530 (``zstty'') serial ports, see zstty(4)
  tty[abcd]
    Built-in serial ports (sparc)
  tty#
    Z88530 serial controllers (sparc64), see tty(4)
  ttyh#
    SAB82532 serial controllers (sparc64), see sparc64/sab(4)
  tty[a-j]
    Built-in serial ports (sun2, sun3)
  ttyC?
    pccons (arc)
  dz#
    UNIBUS DZ11 and DZ32 (vax), see emips/dz(4), vax/dz(4)
  dh#
    UNIBUS DH11 and emulations (e.g. Able DMAX, Emulex CS-11) (vax), see vax/dh(4)
  dmf#
    UNIBUS DMF32 (vax), see vax/dmf(4)
  dhu#
    UNIBUS DHU11 (vax), see vax/dhu(4)
  dmz#
    UNIBUS DMZ32 (vax), see vax/dmz(4)
  dl#
    UNIBUS DL11 (vax), see vax/dl(4)
  xencons
    Xen virtual console
Terminal multiplexors:
  dc#
    4 channel serial interface (keyboard, mouse, modem, printer)
  dh#
    UNIBUS DH11 and emulations (e.g. Able DMAX, Emulex CS-11), see vax/dh(4)
  dhu#
    UNIBUS DHU11, see vax/dhu(4)
  dl#
    UNIBUS DL11, see vax/dl(4)
  dmf#
    UNIBUS DMF32, see vax/dmf(4)
  dmz#
    UNIBUS DMZ32, see vax/dmz(4)
  dz#
    UNIBUS DZ11 and DZ32, see emips/dz(4), vax/dz(4)
  scc#
    82530 serial interface
Call units:
  dn#
    UNIBUS DN11 and emulations (e.g. Able Quadracall), see vax/dn(4)
Pseudo terminals:
  ptm
    Pty multiplexor device, and pts directory, see ptm(4)
  pty#
    Set of 16 master and slave pseudo terminals, see pty(4)
  opty
    First 16 ptys, to save inodes on install media
  ipty
    First 2 ptys, for install media use only
Printers:
  arcpp#
    Archimedes parallel port
  lpt#
    Stock lp, see lpt(4), acorn32/lpt(4), mvme68k/lpt(4), x86/lpt(4)
  lpa#
    Interruptless lp
  par#
    Amiga motherboard parallel port
  cpi#
    Macintosh Nubus CSI parallel printer card, see mac68k/cpi(4)
USB devices:
  usb#
    USB control devices, see usb(4)
  uhid#
    USB generic HID devices, see uhid(4)
  ulpt#
    USB printer devices, see ulpt(4)
  ugen#
    USB generic devices, see ugen(4)
  uscanner#
    USB scanners, see uscanner(4)
  ttyHS#
    USB Option N.V. modems
  ttyU#
    USB modems, see ucom(4)
  ttyY#
    USB serial adapters
Video devices:
  bwtwo#
    Monochromatic frame buffer, see sparc/bwtwo(4), sun2/bwtwo(4), sun3/bwtwo(4)
  cgtwo#
    8-bit color frame buffer, see sparc/cgtwo(4), sun3/cgtwo(4)
  cgthree#
    8-bit color frame buffer, see sparc/cgthree(4)
  cgfour#
    8-bit color frame buffer, see sparc/cgfour(4), sun3/cgfour(4)
  cgsix#
    Accelerated 8-bit color frame buffer, see sparc/cgsix(4)
  cgeight#
    24-bit color frame buffer, see sparc/cgeight(4)
  etvme
    Tseng et-compatible cards on VME (atari)
  ik#
    UNIBUS interface to Ikonas frame buffer, see vax/ik(4)
  leo
    Circad Leonardo VME-bus true color (atari)
  ps#
    UNIBUS interface to Picture System 2, see vax/ps(4)
  qv#
    QVSS (MicroVAX) display
  tcx#
    Accelerated 8/24-bit color frame buffer, see sparc/tcx(4)
Maple bus devices:
  maple
    Maple bus control devices, see dreamcast/maple(4)
  mlcd#
    Maple bus LCD devices, see dreamcast/mlcd(4)
  mmem#
    Maple bus storage devices, see dreamcast/mmem(4)
IEEE1394 bus devices:
  fw#
    IEEE1394 bus generic node access devices
  fwmem#
    IEEE1394 bus physical memory of the remote node access devices
Special purpose devices:
  ad#
    UNIBUS interface to Data Translation A/D converter, see vax/ad(4)
  agp#
    AGP GART devices, see agp(4)
  altq
    ALTQ control interface, see altq(4)
  amr#
    AMI MegaRaid control device, see amr(4)
  apm
    Power management device, see i386/apm(4)
  audio#
    Audio devices, see audio(4)
  bell#
    OPM bell device (x68k)
  bktr
    Brooktree 848/849/878/879 based TV cards, see bktr(4)
  bpf
    Packet filter, see bpf(4)
  bthub
    Bluetooth Device Hub control interface, see bthub(4)
  cfs#
    Coda file system device
  ch#
    SCSI media changer, see ch(4)
  cir#
    Consumer IR, see cir(4)
  clockctl
    Clock control for non root users, see clockctl(4)
  cpuctl
    CPU control
  crypto
    Hardware crypto access driver, see crypto(4)
  dmoverio
    Hardware-assisted data movers, see dmoverio(4)
  dpt#
    DPT/Adaptec EATA RAID management interface, see dpt(4)
  dpti#
    DPT/Adaptec I2O RAID management interface, see dpti(4)
  drm#
    Direct Rendering Manager interface, see drm(4)
  dtv#
    Digital TV interface, see dtv(4)
  fb#
    PMAX generic framebuffer pseudo-device
  fd
    File descriptors
  gpiopps#
    1PPS signals on GPIO pins, see gpiopps(4)
  grf#
    Graphics frame buffer device, see amiga/grf(4)
  hdaudio#
    High Definition audio control device, see hdaudio(4)
  hdmicec#
    HDMI CEC devices
  hil
    HP300 HIL input devices, see hil(4)
  icp
    ICP-Vortex/Intel RAID control interface, see icp(4)
  iic#
    IIC bus device, see iic(4)
  io
    X86 IOPL access for COMPAT_10, COMPAT_FREEBSD, see hppa/io(4), i386/io(4)
  iop#
    I2O IOP control interface, see iop(4)
  ipmi#
    OpenIPMI compatible interface, see ipmi(4)
  ipl
    IP Filter
  irframe#
    IrDA physical frame, see irframe(4)
  ite#
    Terminal emulator interface to HP300 graphics devices, see amiga/ite(4)
  joy#
    Joystick device, see joy(4)
  kttcp
    Kernel ttcp helper device, see kttcp(4)
  lockstat
    Kernel locking statistics
  magma#
    Magma multiport serial/parallel cards, see sparc/magma(4)
  midi#
    MIDI, see midi(4)
  mfi#
    LSI MegaRAID/MegaSAS control interface, see mfi(4)
  mlx#
    Mylex DAC960 control interface, see mlx(4)
  mly#
    Mylex AcceleRAID/eXtremeRAID control interface, see mly(4)
  np#
    UNIBUS Ethernet co-processor interface, for downloading., see vax/np(4)
  npf
    NPF packet filter
  nsmb#
    SMB requester, see nsmb(4)
  nvme#
    Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface device driver, see nvme(4)
  nvme#ns*
    Non-Volatile Memory namespace
  nvmm
    NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor, see nvmm(4)
  openfirm
    OpenFirmware accessor
  pad#
    Pseudo-audio device driver, see pad(4)
  pci#
    PCI bus access devices, see pci(4)
  pf
    PF packet filter
  putter
    Pass-to-Userspace Transporter
  px#
    PixelStamp Xserver access, see px(4)
  qemufwcfg#
    QEMU Firmware Configuration, see qemufwcfg(4)
  radio#
    Radio devices, see radio(4)
  random
    Random number generator, see rnd(4)
  rtc#
    RealTimeClock, see atari/rtc(4), evbppc/rtc(4), hp300/rtc(4)
  scsibus#
    SCSI busses, see scsi(4)
  se#
    SCSI Ethernet, see se(4)
  ses#
    SES/SAF-TE SCSI Devices, see ses(4)
  speaker
    PC speaker, see speaker(4)
  spi#
    SPI bus device, see spi(4)
  sram
    Battery backuped memory (x68k)
  srt#
    Source-address based routing, see srt(4)
  ss#
    SCSI scanner, see ss(4)
  stic#
    PixelStamp interface chip
  sysmon
    System Monitoring hardware, see envsys(4)
  tap#
    Virtual Ethernet device, see tap(4)
  tprof
    Task profiler, see tprof(4)
  tun#
    Network tunnel driver, see tun(4)
  twa
    3ware Apache control interface, see twa(4)
  twe
    3ware Escalade control interface, see twe(4)
  uk#
    Unknown SCSI device, see uk(4)
  veriexec
    Veriexec fingerprint loader, see veriexec(4)
  vhci
    Virtual host controller interface
  video#
    Video capture devices, see video(4)
  view#
    Generic interface to graphic displays (Amiga)
  wsfont#
    Console font control, see wsfont(4)
  wsmux#
    wscons event multiplexor, see wsmux(4)
  xenevt
    Xen event interface
iSCSI communication devices
  iscsi#
    ISCSI driver and /sbin/iscsid communication
Trusted Computing devices
  tpm
    Trusted Platform Module, see tpm(4)
Debugging and tracing
  dtrace
    Dynamic tracing framework

# ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables affect the execution of `MAKEDEV`:

`MAKEDEV_AS_LIBRARY`
  If this is set, then `MAKEDEV` will define several shell functions and then return, ignoring all its command line options and arguments. This is used to enable MAKEDEV.local(8) to use the shell functions defined in `MAKEDEV`.

# FILES

/dev
  special device files directory
/dev/MAKEDEV
  script described in this man page
/dev/MAKEDEV.local
  script for site-specific devices

# DIAGNOSTICS

If the script reports an error that is difficult to understand, you can get more debugging output by using

``sh` `-x` MAKEDEV argument`
.

# SEE ALSO

config(1), pax(1), intro(4), diskless(8), init(8), MAKEDEV.local(8), mknod(8), mount_mfs(8), mount_tmpfs(8), mtree(8)

# HISTORY

The `MAKEDEV` command appeared in 4.2BSD. The `-f`, `-m`, and `-s` options were added in NetBSD 2.0. The `-p`, `-t`, and `-M` options were added in NetBSD 5.0. The ability to be used as a function library was added in NetBSD 5.0.

# BUGS

The `-f` option is not compatible with the use of mtree(8) or pax(1).

# NOTES

Not all devices listed in this manpage are supported on all platforms.

This man page is generated automatically from the same sources as /dev/MAKEDEV, in which the device files are not always sorted, which may result in an unusual (non-alphabetical) order.

In order to allow a diskless NetBSD client to obtain its /dev directory from a file server running a foreign operating system, one of the following techniques may be useful to populate a directory of device nodes on the foreign server:

- If the foreign server is sufficiently similar to NetBSD, run `MAKEDEV` in an appropriate directory of the foreign server, using the `-m` flag to refer to a script that converts from command line arguments that would be usable with the NetBSD mknod(8) command to the equivalent commands for the foreign server.
- Run `MAKEDEV` with the `-s` flag to generate an mtree(8) specification file; this can be done on any host with a POSIX-compliant shell and a few widely-available utilities. Use the pax(1) command with the `-w` `-M` flags to convert the mtree(8) specification file into an archive in a format that supports device nodes (such as ustar format); this can be done on a NetBSD host, or can be done in a cross-build environment using TOOLDIR/bin/nbpax. Finally, use appropriate tools on the foreign server to unpack the archive and create the device nodes.

April 1, 2020 | NetBSD 10.99