Device file

A device file is an interface for a device driver that appears in a filesystem as if it were an ordinary file. Such files allow software to interact with a device driver. They are found in the directory.

Installation
Device files in Gentoo are managed by, which will take care of installation of any required files.

Alternatives to include:



Creation
Each device (either internal or peripheral) has a corresponding device file. During kernel boot time the kernel detects devices and creates device files in the virtual devtmpfs filesystem. Then takes over the device files and stores them in. From this point on, is in charge of creating new device files and deleting unavailable ones.

Information can be obtained by using :

Get device info using followed by the device path.

Permissions
Like other files, access to device file is restricted by filesystem permissions. The permission to access a device file have to be granted first to a user:
 * Add the user to the group the device file belongs to.
 * Setup ConsoleKit to grant access to some device files (e.g. sound device files) to the user of the active, local session.

Symlinks
creates for some device classes additional symlinks. The device file (first CDROM drive) and  (first DVD drive) are just symlinks to the device file  (first optical drive). You can use the symlinks in programs and config files like every other device file. Other examples are for input devices or  for storage devices.

External resources

 * Managing Device Files - On Linux Sea by Sven Vermeulen