code: 9ferno

ref: 600bbfe4aaa9ad0f73d8d73eef1b7670e5f7d3a3
dir: /man/10/master/

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.TH MASTER 10.6
.SH NAME
master, master.local \- list of device specifiers
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B /emu/port/master
.br
.B /emu/port/master.local
.PP
.B os/port/master
.br
.B os/port/master.local
.SH DESCRIPTION
Each device has a name of the form
.BI # x
where
.I x
is a single Unicode character,
which represents the root of the name space served (generated) by the driver.
(There can be a further
.I specifier
that selects a particular 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
.IR sys-intro (2)),
using
.IR bind (1)
commands,
.IR sys-bind (2)
operations and
.IR 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
.B #c/drivers
gives the local system's assignment (see
.IR cons (3)).
A list of the set of characters used across all drivers on all platforms
can be found in the several
.B master
files.
In the distribution, the
.B master.local
files list characters that are reserved for use by locally-written drivers.
They are updated by hand at a given installation.
The
.B master
files by contrast are generated automatically by
.B emu/port/mkfile
and
.B os/port/mkfile
from the source for all platforms and
.BR master.local .
In the distribution, they might include names for drivers that exist but are not
distributed.
.PP
Except for a few fundamental drivers, the character assignment is
arbitrary, can vary between installations, and is notionally subject to change
(although that rarely happens).
The
.IR indir (3)
allows referring to drivers using a longer name that is even less likely to change.
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR bind (1),
.IR sys-intro (2),
.IR indir (3),
.IR namespace (6),
.IR dev (10.2)