MASTER(10.6) MASTER(10.6)
NAME
master, master.local - list of device specifiers
SYNOPSIS
/emu/port/master
/emu/port/master.local
os/port/master
os/port/master.local
DESCRIPTION
Each device has a name of the form #x where x is a single Unicode char‐
acter, which represents the root of the name space served (generated)
by the driver. (There can be a further specifier that selects a par‐
ticular hierarchy within the device, but that is not relevant here.)
These names allow the devices' name spaces to be added to a process's
name space (see sys-intro(2)), using bind(1) commands, sys-bind(2)
operations and namespace(6) files. A given character can represent
only one driver in a running system, but the same character might be
used by several drivers in the source tree if they are never configured
into the same system (eg, different platforms or mutually-exclusive
configurations). The file #c/drivers gives the local system's assign‐
ment (see cons(3)). A list of the set of characters used across all
drivers on all platforms can be found in the several master files. In
the distribution, the master.local files list characters that are
reserved for use by locally-written drivers. They are updated by hand
at a given installation. The master files by contrast are generated
automatically by emu/port/mkfile and os/port/mkfile from the source for
all platforms and master.local. In the distribution, they might
include names for drivers that exist but are not distributed.
Except for a few fundamental drivers, the character assignment is arbi‐
trary, can vary between installations, and is notionally subject to
change (although that rarely happens). The indir(3) allows referring
to drivers using a longer name that is even less likely to change.
SEE ALSObind(1), sys-intro(2), indir(3), namespace(6), dev(10.2)
MASTER(10.6)
