MKNOD(2)                      System Calls Manual                     MKNOD(2)

NAME
     mknod - make a special file node

SYNOPSIS
     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     mknod(const char *path, mode_t mode, dev_t dev);

DESCRIPTION
     The device special file path is created with the major and minor device
     numbers extracted from mode. The access permissions of path are descen-
     dant from the umask(2) of the parent process.

     If mode indicates a block or character special file, dev is a configura-
     tion dependent specification of a character or block I/O device and the
     superblock of the device.  If mode does not indicate a block special or
     character special device, dev is ignored.

     Mknod() requires super-user privileges.

RETURN VALUES
     Upon successful completion a value of 0 is returned.  Otherwise, a value
     of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
     Mknod() will fail and the file will be not created if:

     [ENOTDIR]          A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]     A component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX} charac-
                        ters, or an entire path name exceeded {PATH_MAX} char-
                        acters.

     [ENOENT]           A component of the path prefix does not exist.

     [EACCES]           Search permission is denied for a component of the
                        path prefix.

     [ELOOP]            Too many symbolic links were encountered in translat-
                        ing the pathname.

     [EPERM]            The process's effective user ID is not super-user.

     [EIO]              An I/O error occurred while making the directory entry
                        or allocating the inode.

     [ENOSPC]           The directory in which the entry for the new node is
                        being placed cannot be extended because there is no
                        space left on the file system containing the direc-
                        tory.

     [ENOSPC]           There are no free inodes on the file system on which
                        the node is being created.

     [EDQUOT]           The directory in which the entry for the new node is
                        being placed cannot be extended because the user's
                        quota of disk blocks on the file system containing the
                        directory has been exhausted.

     [EDQUOT]           The user's quota of inodes on the file system on which
                        the node is being created has been exhausted.

     [EROFS]            The named file resides on a read-only file system.

     [EEXIST]           The named file exists.

     [EFAULT]           Path points outside the process's allocated address
                        space.

SEE ALSO
     chmod(2), stat(2), umask(2)

HISTORY
     A mknod() function call appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

4th Berkeley Distribution        June 4, 1993        4th Berkeley Distribution