1Intro(7) Device and Network Interfaces Intro(7)
2
6 Intro, intro - introduction to special files
7
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 This section contains the following major collections:
16 [1m(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 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 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 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 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 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 [1m(7FS) This section describes the programmatic interface for several
63 file systems supported by SunOS.
64 [1m(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 [1m(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 [1m(7P) This section describes various network protocols available in
84 SunOS.
85 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 Major protocols in the Internet family include:
98 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 o The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP); see
105 tcp(7P). This is the default protocol for
106 SOCK_STREAM type sockets.
107 o The User Datagram Protocol (UDP); see udp(7P). This
109 is the default protocol for SOCK_DGRAM type sock‐
110 ets.
111 o The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP); see arp(7P).
113 o The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP); see
115 icmp(7P).
116
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 System Administration Guide: IP Services
125 STREAMS Programming Guide
128 Writing Device Drivers
131SunOS 5.11 29 Sep 1994 Intro(7)