DEV_MKDB(8)

💅 dev_mkdb — create /dev database 🎀

okay so real talk, this is dev_mkdb(8) from the LOCAL manual, and it is literally the little icon that builds the /dev database. one job, does it, slays. ✨

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dev_mkdb

no flags, no arguments, no drama. she takes zero notes and zero options. 💅

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

bestie, here's the whole vibe: the dev_mkdb command creates a db(3) hash access method database sitting pretty at /var/run/dev.db. and what goes in it? the names of every single character and block special file in the /dev directory, ngl. 🦋

the key situation — and this is the part you gotta remember — uses the file type plus the st_rdev field. that's the whole key. no cap.

so the keys are a structure containing a mode_t followed by a dev_t, with any padding zero'd out. the first one (the mode_t) is the type of the file, which is st_mode & S_IFMT. the second one (the dev_t) is the st_rdev field. periodt. 👑

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• /dev — the device directory. this is where all the special files live, iykyk. 🍓
• /var/run/dev.db — the database file. this is the glow-up she produces. 💾✨

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

ps(1), stat(2), db(3), devname(3), kvm_nlist(3), ttyname(3), kvm_mkdb(8)

like, go read those too. the whole friend group is iconic. 🫶

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🌈 HISTORY 🌈

the dev_mkdb command appeared in 4.4BSD. vintage. main character energy since day one. 👑

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ok that's the whole page, no filler, fr fr. every detail stayed, only the vibe got cuter. 💀💖

and finally, the cute lil sign-off from the footer: this one's from Debian, dated June 6, 1993, and it lives at DEV_MKDB(8) — mwah, bye bestie! 🧚‍♀️⭐🎀