NAME

       Unix::Mknod - Perl extension for mknod, major, minor, and makedev

SYNOPSIS

        use Unix::Mknod qw(:all);
        use File::stat;
        use Fcntl qw(:mode);

        $st=stat('/dev/null');
        $major=major($st->rdev);
        $minor=minor($st->rdev);

        mknod('/tmp/special', S_IFCHR|0600, makedev($major,$minor+1));

DESCRIPTION

       This module allows access to the device routines major()/minor()/makedev() that may or may
       not be macros in .h files.

       It also allows access to the mknod(2) system call.

FUNCTIONS

       mknod($filename, $mode, $rdev)
           Creates a block or character device special file named $filename.  Must be run as a
           privileged user, usually root.  Returns 0 on success and -1 on failure, like
           "POSIX::mkfifo" does.

       $major = major($rdev)
           Returns the major number for the device special file as defined by the st_rdev field
           from the stat(3) call.

       $minor = minor($rdev)
           Returns the minor number for the device special file as defined by the st_rdev field
           from the stat(3) call.

       $rdev = makedev($major, $minor)
           Returns the st_rdev number for the device special file from the $major and $minor
           numbers.

NOTES

       There are 2 other perl modules that implement the mknod(2) system call, but they have
       problems working on some platforms.  "Sys::Mknod" does not work on AIX because it uses the
       syscall(2) generic system call which AIX does not have.  "Mknod" implements S_IFIFO, which
       on most platforms is not implemented in mknod(1), but rather mkfifo(1) (which is
       implemented in POSIX perl module).

       The perl module "File::Stat::Bits" also implements major() and minor() (and a version of
       makedev() called dev_join).  They are done as a program to get the bit masks at compile
       time, but if major() and minor() are implemented as sub routines, the argument could be
       something as simple as an index to a lookup table (and thereby having no decernable
       relation to its result).

BUGS

       Running "make test" as non root will not truly test the functions, as in most UNIX like
       OSes, mknod(2) needs to be invoked by a privelaged user, usually root.

SEE ALSO

       $ERRNO or $! for the specific error message.

       File::Stat::Bits, Mknod, POSIX, Sys::Mknod

       major(9), minor(9), mkfifo(1), mknod(8)

AUTHOR

       Jim Pirzyk, <pirzyk@freebsd.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright (c) 2005-2023 University of Illinois Board of Trustees All rights reserved.

       Developed by: Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services,
                     University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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