Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 18:13:55 -0500 From: Ray Kohler <rkohler1@cox.rr.com> To: sridharv@ufl.edu, questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: about /dev Message-ID: <0aa490111231012FE4@Mail4.mgfairfax.rr.com> In-Reply-To: <200201160407.XAA15222@anansi.vpha.health.ufl.edu> References: <200201160407.XAA15222@anansi.vpha.health.ufl.edu>
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On Tuesday 15 January 2002 11:07 pm, sridharv@ufl.edu wrote: > what do the device files in the /dev directory point to > exactly. the device drivers for that device?? > have seen some material about this but its not too > clear.. They are "virtual files" that can trick the system into thinking a lot of hardware are just regular files. For instance, if a program opens a regular file for writing, and writes on it, the data goes into that file on the disk. If it does the same to /dev/cuaa0, the data gets sent to the first serial port (assuming you have that driver in your kernel). This allows programmers not to care whether the output is to a file or to some hardware. All that's really stored on the disk for a device file is a pair of numbers to tell the kernel what kind of device it is and which one to use. -- Ray Kohler Playing an unamplified electric guitar is like strumming on a picnic table. -- Dave Barry, "The Snake" To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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