Making Special Files - The GNU C Library

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### 14.10 Making Special Files

The `mknod` function is the primitive for making special files, such as files that correspond to devices. The GNU library includes this function for compatibility with BSD.

The prototype for `mknod` is declared in `sys/stat.h`.

— Function: int mknod (const char *filename, int mode, int dev)

> The `mknod` function makes a special file with name filename. The mode specifies the mode of the file, and may include the various special file bits, such as `S_IFCHR` (for a character special file) or `S_IFBLK` (for a block special file). See Testing File Type.

> The dev argument specifies which device the special file refers to. Its exact interpretation depends on the kind of special file being created.

> The return value is `0` on success and `-1` on error. In addition to the usual file name errors (see File Name Errors), the following `errno` error conditions are defined for this function:

> `EPERM`
>   The calling process is not privileged. Only the superuser can create special files.
> `ENOSPC`
>   The directory or file system that would contain the new file is full and cannot be extended.
> `EROFS`
>   The directory containing the new file can't be modified because it's on a read-only file system.
> `EEXIST`
>   There is already a file named filename. If you want to replace this file, you must remove the old file explicitly first.