xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/mknod.2 (revision 7788a0781fe6ff2cce37368b4578a7ade0850cb1)
1.\"	$NetBSD: mknod.2,v 1.27 2013/07/30 13:45:38 njoly Exp $
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30.\"     @(#)mknod.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
31.\"
32.Dd July 29, 2013
33.Dt MKNOD 2
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm mknod ,
37.Nm mknodat
38.Nd make a special file node
39.Sh LIBRARY
40.Lb libc
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.In sys/stat.h
43.Ft int
44.Fn mknod "const char *path" "mode_t mode" "dev_t dev"
45.Ft int
46.Fn mknodat "int fd" "const char *path" "mode_t mode" "dev_t dev"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The device special file
49.Fa path
50is created with the major and minor
51device numbers specified by
52.Fa dev .
53The access permissions of
54.Fa path
55are extracted from
56.Fa mode ,
57modified by the
58.Xr umask 2
59of the parent process.
60.Pp
61.Fn mknodat
62works the same way as
63.Fn mknod
64except if
65.Fa path
66is relative.
67In that case, it is looked up from a directory whose file
68descriptor was passed as
69.Fa fd .
70Search permission is required on this directory.
71.\"    (These alternatives await a decision about the semantics of O_SEARCH)
72.\" Search permission is required on this directory
73.\" except if
74.\" .Fa fd
75.\" was opened with the
76.\" .Dv O_SEARCH
77.\" flag.
78.\"    - or -
79.\" This file descriptor must have been opened with the
80.\" .Dv O_SEARCH
81.\" flag.
82.Fa fd
83can be set to
84.Dv AT_FDCWD
85in order to specify the current directory.
86.Pp
87.Fn mknod
88requires super-user privileges.
89.Sh RETURN VALUES
90.Rv -std mknod mknodat
91.Sh ERRORS
92.Fn mknod
93and
94.Fn mknodat
95will fail and the file will be not created if:
96.Bl -tag -width Er
97.It Bq Er EACCES
98Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix.
99.It Bq Er EDQUOT
100The directory in which the entry for the new node
101is being placed cannot be extended because the
102user's quota of disk blocks on the file system
103containing the directory has been exhausted; or
104the user's quota of inodes on the file system on
105which the node is being created has been exhausted.
106.It Bq Er EEXIST
107The named file exists.
108.It Bq Er EFAULT
109.Fa path
110points outside the process's allocated address space.
111.It Bq Er EINVAL
112The supplied
113.Fa mode
114or
115.Fa dev
116is invalid.
117.It Bq Er EIO
118An I/O error occurred while making the directory entry or allocating the inode.
119.It Bq Er ELOOP
120Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
121.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
122A component of a pathname exceeded
123.Brq Dv NAME_MAX
124characters, or an entire path name exceeded
125.Brq Dv PATH_MAX
126characters.
127.It Bq Er ENOENT
128A component of the path prefix does not exist.
129.It Bq Er ENOSPC
130The directory in which the entry for the new node is being placed
131cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file
132system containing the directory; or
133there are no free inodes on the file system on which the
134node is being created.
135.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
136A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
137.It Bq Er EPERM
138The process's effective user ID is not super-user.
139.It Bq Er EROFS
140The named file resides on a read-only file system.
141.El
142.Pp
143In addition,
144.Fn mknodat
145will fail if:
146.Bl -tag -width Er
147.It Bq Er EBADF
148.Fa path
149does not specify an absolute path and
150.Fa fd
151is neither
152.Dv AT_FDCWD
153nor a valid file descriptor open for reading or searching.
154.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
155.Fa path
156is not an absolute path and
157.Fa fd
158is a file descriptor associated with a non-directory file.
159.El
160.Sh SEE ALSO
161.Xr chmod 2 ,
162.Xr mkfifo 2 ,
163.Xr stat 2 ,
164.Xr umask 2
165.Sh STANDARDS
166The
167.Fn mknod
168function conforms to
169.St -p1003.1-90 .
170.Fn mknodat
171conforms to
172.St -p1003.1-2008 .
173.Sh HISTORY
174A
175.Fn mknod
176function call appeared in
177.At v6 .
178