Timeline for How are "/dev" Linux files created?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
24 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 6, 2017 at 12:31 | answer | added | Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 3, 2016 at 21:18 | history | edited | Jeff Schaller♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 2 characters in body
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| Nov 11, 2015 at 18:40 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackUnix/status/664512993766559744 | ||
| S Nov 11, 2015 at 15:35 | history | suggested | Martin Schröder |
retag (since the retag privilege is gone I have to go through suggested edits)
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| Nov 11, 2015 at 15:28 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Nov 11, 2015 at 15:35 | |||||
| Nov 9, 2015 at 14:05 | comment | added | rackandboneman | true devfs is not commonly used today, the common method (udev) has the device files on-disk but managed by a monitor daemon that will remove and create them at the behest of the kernel and device drivers. Running a linux system with the device files on-disk and manually maintained is still perfectly possible, but awkward unless it is eg a server whose hardware (including externally attached devices) is not expected to change, BTW, "MAKEDEV generic" will populate a /dev directory reasonably if you ever have to . | |
| Nov 8, 2015 at 11:06 | history | edited | Michael Durrant | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 62 characters in body; edited title
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| Nov 8, 2015 at 7:11 | answer | added | ssokolow | timeline score: 13 | |
| Nov 7, 2015 at 17:30 | answer | added | Karl Bielefeldt | timeline score: 6 | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 21:25 | comment | added | waltinator |
All files, even "real" files, are software artifacts. The software behind every device, file, socket, special file, or something yet to be invented provides a table of functions to handle open(), read(), close(), etc. After that, it's up to the software
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| Nov 6, 2015 at 17:20 | comment | added | mattdm | The suggested duplicate indicates how you create these in the filesystem. But it doesn't explain what backs them or how they work. I suggest editing the question tittle to ask about that instead. | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 15:18 | comment | added | Baard Kopperud | These are "device nodes". However the ones you mentioned - unlike those associated with disks, keyboard, mice, audio-cards, and other devices - are so-called "pseudo-devices", as they're not "real" devices and only exists in the kernel. It's possible to create new ones, by writing a suitable device-driver and add it to the kernel (eg. a pseudo-device for monitoring some activity on the computer). Before the /dev-directory existed on disk - these days it's a virtual file-system (of type devfs) created by the kernel. | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 9:57 | answer | added | MathematicalOrchid | timeline score: 116 | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 9:23 | answer | added | kasperd | timeline score: 36 | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 7:54 | comment | added | RobertL |
Also See: mknod(2) man 2 mknod
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| Nov 6, 2015 at 7:48 | comment | added | cas | BTW, this is a fundamental part of the design of unix and unix-like operating systems: (almost) everything is a file, or can be made to look like a file. | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 7:38 | answer | added | Basile Starynkevitch | timeline score: 21 | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 7:10 | review | Close votes | |||
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| Nov 6, 2015 at 6:56 | answer | added | cas | timeline score: 13 | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 6:54 | comment | added | IQAndreas | @cuonglm That's how to restore the special file after it has been deleted. Thanks, it may provide some helpful insight, but I wouldn't call it a duplicate. | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 6:52 | history | edited | cas |
added /devices tag
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| Nov 6, 2015 at 6:49 | comment | added | cuonglm | Possible duplicate of How to create /dev/null? | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 6:42 | comment | added | IQAndreas | I had no clue how to tag this question, especially since I don't know the name of what I'm looking for. Feel free to edit in any relevant tags. | |
| Nov 6, 2015 at 6:42 | history | asked | IQAndreas | CC BY-SA 3.0 |