1Intro(7)                 Device and Network Interfaces                Intro(7)
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NAME

6       Intro, intro - introduction to special files
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DESCRIPTION

9       This section describes various device and network interfaces  available
10       on the system.  The types of interfaces  described   include  character
11       and  block  devices,  STREAMS modules, network protocols, file systems,
12       and ioctl requests for driver subsystems and classes.
13
14
15       This section contains the following major collections:
16
17       (7D)     The system provides drivers for a variety of hardware devices,
18                such  as  disk,  magnetic  tapes,  serial communication lines,
19                mice, and frame  buffers, as well as virtual devices  such  as
20                pseudo-terminals and windows.
21
22                This  section  describes  special files that refer to specific
23                hardware peripherals  and  device  drivers.  STREAMS    device
24                drivers  are also described. Characteristics of both the hard‐
25                ware device and the corresponding device driver are  discussed
26                where applicable.
27
28                An application accesses a device through that device's special
29                file. This section specifies the device  special  file  to  be
30                used  to  access the device as well as application programming
31                interface (API) information relevant to the use of the  device
32                driver.
33
34                All  device  special  files  are  located  under the  /devices
35                directory.  The  /devices directory hierarchy attempts to mir‐
36                ror  the  hierarchy of system busses, controllers, and devices
37                configured on the system.   Logical device names  for  special
38                files  in  /devices  are  located  under  the  /dev directory.
39                Although not every special file under  /devices  will  have  a
40                corresponding logical entry under  /dev, whenever possible, an
41                application should reference a device using  the logical  name
42                for  the device. Logical device names are listed in the  FILES
43                section of the page for the device in question.
44
45                This section also describes driver configuration where  appli‐
46                cable. Many device drivers have a driver configuration file of
47                the  form   driver_name.conf   associated   with   them   (see
48                driver.conf(4)).  The configuration information stored  in the
49                driver configuration file is used to configure the driver  and
50                the  device.  Driver configuration files are located in  /ker‐
51                nel/drv and  /usr/kernel/drv. Driver configuration  files  for
52                platform  dependent  drivers  are  located in /platform/`uname
53                -i`/kernel/drv  where   `uname  -i`  is  the  output  of   the
54                uname(1) command with the  -i option.
55
56                Some  driver configuration files may contain user configurable
57                properties. Changes in a driver's configuration file will  not
58                take  effect  until  the  system is rebooted or the driver has
59                been removed and re-added (see  rem_drv(1M) and  add_drv(1M)).
60
61
62       (7FS)    This section describes the  programmatic interface for several
63                file systems supported by SunOS.
64
65
66       (7I)     This  section  describes ioctl requests which apply to a class
67                of drivers or subsystems. For example,  ioctl  requests  which
68                apply  to most tape devices are  discussed in  mtio(7I). Ioctl
69                requests relevant to only a specific  device are described  on
70                the man page for that device. The page for the device in ques‐
71                tion should still be examined for  exceptions  to  the  ioctls
72                listed in section 7I.
73
74
75       (7M)     This  section  describes  STREAMS modules.  Note that  STREAMS
76                drivers are discussed in section 7D. streamio(7I)  contains  a
77                list  of ioctl requests used to manipulate STREAMS modules and
78                interface with the STREAMS framework.  Ioctl requests specific
79                to  a   STREAMS  module  will be discussed on the man page for
80                that module.
81
82
83       (7P)     This section describes various network protocols available  in
84                SunOS.
85
86                SunOS  supports  both  socket-based  and STREAMS-based network
87                communications. The Internet  protocol  family,  described  in
88                inet(7P),  is  the primary protocol family supported by SunOS,
89                although the system can support a number of others.   The  raw
90                interface provides low-level services, such as packet fragmen‐
91                tation and reassembly, routing, addressing, and  basic  trans‐
92                port  for socket-based implementations.  Facilities for commu‐
93                nicating  using  an  Internet-family  protocol  are  generally
94                accessed by specifying the AF_INET address family when binding
95                a socket; see socket(3SOCKET) for details.
96
97                Major protocols in the Internet family include:
98
99                    o      The Internet Protocol (IP) itself,  which  supports
100                           the  universal  datagram  format,  as  described in
101                           ip(7P). This is the default protocol  for  SOCK_RAW
102                           type sockets within the AF_INET domain.
103
104                    o      The   Transmission   Control  Protocol  (TCP);  see
105                           tcp(7P).  This  is   the   default   protocol   for
106                           SOCK_STREAM type sockets.
107
108                    o      The User Datagram Protocol (UDP); see udp(7P). This
109                           is the default protocol for SOCK_DGRAM  type  sock‐
110                           ets.
111
112                    o      The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP); see arp(7P).
113
114                    o      The  Internet  Control Message Protocol (ICMP); see
115                           icmp(7P).
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117

SEE ALSO

119       add_drv(1M),   rem_drv(1M),   Intro(3),   ioctl(2),    socket(3SOCKET),
120       driver.conf(4),  arp(7P), icmp(7P), inet(7P), ip(7P), mtio(7I), st(7D),
121       streamio(7I), tcp(7P), udp(7P)
122
123
124       System Administration Guide: IP Services
125
126
127       STREAMS Programming Guide
128
129
130       Writing Device Drivers
131
132
133
134SunOS 5.11                        29 Sep 1994                         Intro(7)
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