Why can't I do "mknod /dev/cdev c 32 0"

[Brian Bobowski]

cm c wrote:

> The output of 'uname -a' is:
> FreeBSD .itc.inventec 5.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE #0: Thu Jun 5
> 02:55:42 GMT 2003
> root at wv1u.btc.adaptec.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC
> <mailto:root at wv1u.btc.adaptec.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC> i386
> It's 5.x, but if the node is created automatically, how do I use open?
> I mean, under linux, user space processes need do 'open("/dev/cdev")
> before do other things, can /dev/cdev be created automatically? I
> don't think so.

The man page for open(2) says it can look at existing files as well as
make new ones. I'm probably missing something crucial and should thus
yield the floor to those knowledgeable at such things.

The only other thing I can suggest is to look at the man pages for
devfs(8), the utility that helps control the system, and for devfs(5)
itself.

-BB