mount_fdesc(8) BSD System Manager's Manual mount_fdesc(8)
NAME
mount_fdesc -- mount the file-descriptor file system
SYNOPSIS
mount_fdesc [-o options] fdesc mount_point
DESCRIPTION
The mount_fdesc command attaches an instance of the per-process file
descriptor namespace to the global filesystem namespace. The conven-
tional mount point is /dev and the filesystem should be union mounted in
order to augment, rather than replace, the existing entries in /dev.
This command is normally executed by mount(8) at boot time.
The options are as follows:
-o Options are specified with a -o flag followed by a comma sepa-
rated string of options. See the mount(8) man page for possible
options and their meanings.
The contents of the mount point are fd, stderr, stdin, stdout and tty.
fd is a directory whose contents appear as a list of numbered files which
correspond to the open files of the process reading the directory. The
files /dev/fd/0 through /dev/fd/# refer to file descriptors which can be
accessed through the file system. If the file descriptor is open and the
mode the file is being opened with is a subset of the mode of the exist-
ing descriptor, the call:
fd = open("/dev/fd/0", mode);
and the call:
fd = fcntl(0, F_DUPFD, 0);
are equivalent.
The files /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout and /dev/stderr appear as symlinks to
the relevant entry in the /dev/fd sub-directory. Opening them is equiva-
lent to the following calls:
fd = fcntl(STDIN_FILENO, F_DUPFD, 0);
fd = fcntl(STDOUT_FILENO, F_DUPFD, 0);
fd = fcntl(STDERR_FILENO, F_DUPFD, 0);
Flags to the open(2) call other than O_RDONLY, O_WRONLY and O_RDWR are
ignored.
The /dev/tty entry is an indirect reference to the current process's con-
trolling terminal. It appears as a named pipe (FIFO) but behaves in
exactly the same way as the real controlling terminal device.
FILES
/dev/fd/#
/dev/stdin
/dev/stdout
/dev/stderr
/dev/tty
SEE ALSO
mount(2), unmount(2), tty(4), fstab(5), mount(8)
CAVEATS
No ~. and .. entries appear when listing the contents of the /dev/fd
directory. This makes sense in the context of this filesystem, but is
inconsistent with usual filesystem conventions. However, it is still
possible to refer to both ~. and .. in a pathname.
This filesystem may not be NFS-exported.
HISTORY
The mount_fdesc utility first appeared in 4.4BSD.
4.4BSD March 27, 1994 4.4BSD
Mac OS X 10.8 - Generated Tue Sep 4 06:38:13 CDT 2012