makeuuid(1m)

1makeuuid(1M)            System Administration Commands            makeuuid(1M)
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NAME

6       makeuuid - generate Universal Unique Identifiers
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SYNOPSIS

9       makeuuid [-e ether] [-n count] [-R root]
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DESCRIPTION

13       The  makeuuid  command  generates  UUIDs (Universal Unique Identifiers)
14       conforming to the OSF DCE specification for  UUIDs.  The  specification
15       states:
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18       "A  UUID  is  an  identifier that is unique across both space and time,
19       with respect to the space of all UUIDs. A UUID can be used for   multi‐
20       ple purposes, from tagging objects with an extremely short lifetime, to
21       reliably identifying very persistent objects across a network.
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24       "The generation of UUIDs does not require a registration authority  for
25       each  single identifier. Instead, it requires a unique value over space
26       for each UUID generator. This  spatially  unique  value  is  [normally]
27       specified  as  an IEEE 802 address, which is usually already applied to
28       network-connected systems."
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31       The makeuuid command generates one or more UUIDs on the  standard  out‐
32       put.
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OPTIONS

35       The makeuuid command supports the following options:
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37       -e ether    Supplies  an alternate address to be used in the generation
38                   of the UUIDs. Normally, the system's  Ethernet  address  is
39                   acquired and used during the generation of a UUID. However,
40                   this requires root privileges to open and read the  network
41                   devices. If this is not possible, you must supply an alter‐
42                   nate Ethernet address.
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45       -n count    Generate multiple UUIDs. This option generates  the  speci‐
46                   fied number of UUIDs, one per line. Using this form is more
47                   efficient than, and functionally equivalent to, calling the
48                   makeuuid  command  multiple  times.  This  can be used, for
49                   example, when a large number of UUIDs need to be  generated
50                   for a given application.
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53       -R root     Use  root  as  the  root  filesystem path when updating the
54                   shared state file (see FILES). The shared state  file  must
55                   be  writable  by  the  user  running makeuuid, otherwise no
56                   UUIDs will be generated and  the  command  will  return  in
57                   failure.
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59                   Note -
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61                     The  root file system of any non-global zones must not be
62                     referenced with the -R option. Doing so might damage  the
63                     global  zone's file system, might compromise the security
64                     of the global  zone,  and  might  damage  the  non-global
65                     zone's file system. See zones(5).
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USAGE

69       Normally,  you  run  the  makeuuid command with root privileges, as the
70       Ethernet address and state files can be easily accessed and updated. If
71       this  is not possible, you must use the -R and -e options to specify an
72       alternate root and Ethernet address to use when calculating the UUIDs.
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EXAMPLES

75       Example 1 Generating Multiple UUIDs
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78       The following command generates 3000 UUIDs:
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81         example# makeuuid -n 3000
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85       Example 2 Invoking Without Root Privileges
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88       If you cannot obtain root privileges, you  must  specify  an  alternate
89       Ethernet address and state file location:
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92         example% makeuuid -e 11:22:33:44:55:66 -R /export/root/example2
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97       See  the  caveat on the use of the -R option in the description of that
98       option, above.
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EXIT STATUS

102       The following exit values are returned:
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104       0     Successful completion.
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107       1     Out of memory.
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110       -1    Invalid Ethernet address given or access denied.
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FILES

114       /var/sadm/system/uuid_state
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116           UUID state file. Use of time values is one way  that  UUID  genera‐
117           tors,  such  as  makeuuid,  guarantee uniqueness. A state file is a
118           mechanism that allows makeuuid to "remember" the last time value it
119           used  so it can increment that value for use in a new UUID. See the
120           Internet Draft "UUIDs and  GUIDs,"  dated  February  4,  1998,  for
121           details on the state file mechanism.
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ATTRIBUTES

125       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
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130       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
131       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         │      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        │
132       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
133       │Availability                 │SUNWwsr2                     │
134       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
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NOTES

140       The  formal  UUID specification is in the OSF DCE specification, avail‐
141       able at www.opengroup.org. As of the date of publication  of  this  man
142       page, a copy of the specification is available at:
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144         http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9629399/apdxa.htm
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149       Sun  has no control over the availability of documents on the www.open‐
150       group.org web site.
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154SunOS 5.11                        6 Apr 2005                      makeuuid(1M)