DEV(4FS) 4FS DEV(4FS)

NAME

dev - Device name file system

DESCRIPTION

The dev filesystem manages the name spaces of devices in the operating
system. The global zone's instance of the dev filesystem is mounted during
boot on /dev. This filesystem is colloqiually called `sdev' as a way to
distinguish it from the devfs(4FS) filesystem mounted at /devices.

A subdirectory under /dev may have unique operational semantics. Most of
the common device names under /dev are created automatically by devfsadm(8)
Others, such as /dev/pts, /dev/net, and /dev/zvol are dynamic and reflect
the operational state of the system. You can manually generate device
names for newly attached hardware by invoking devfsadm(8) or implicitly, by
indirectly causing a lookup or readdir operation in the filesystem to
occur. For example, you can discover a disk that was attached when the
system was powered down (and generate a name for that device) by invoking
format(8).

In a non-global zone, the dev filesystem is also mounted at /dev; however,
it is generally speaking read-only. Unlike in the global zone, a
privileged user in a non-global zone cannot create directories or files,
directories, or other objects within the filesystem.

FILES

/dev Mount point for the dev filesystem in the
global zone and non-global zones.

SEE ALSO

devfs(4FS), devfsadm(8), format(8)

NOTES

The global /dev instance cannot be unmounted.

OmniOS November 29, 2021 OmniOS