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marry(HW)


marry -- marriage driver

Description

The marriage driver allows a regular file to be treated as a device. It does not drive any hardware directly, but it redirects reads and writes on its device to the associated regular file.

marry(ADM) uses the marriage driver to associate a block special device file with a regular file. The regular file may then be accessed through the block device node created below the /dev/marry directory, or through a character device node.

swap(ADM) uses marry to allow a regular file to act as a block device for swapping. marry may also be used to allow a regular file to act as a block device for mounting.

The only permanent device file associated with the marry driver is /dev/rmarry, a character device node that allows control of the driver through ioctl(S) calls. The default permissions on this node are 666, owner root, and group root; these may be changed by root to restrict the use of the marry command by other users. For example, a permission of 664 would only allow root to make and dissolve marriages; all other users would only be allowed to list the married files.

If you change the permissions on /dev/rmarry, you should also edit /etc/conf/node.d/marry so that the new permissions take effect whenever the kernel environment is rebuilt.

Limitations

By default, a maximum of 24 concurrent marriages are allowed. To raise this limit (up to 255), edit /etc/conf/pack.d/marry/space.c to define NMARRIAGES as required, then relink the kernel.

The marriage driver should only be used through marry; this maintains the /dev/marry hierarchy of block device nodes.

Files


/etc/conf/pack.d/marry/Driver.o
the marriage driver

/etc/conf/pack.d/marry/space.c
defines the number of marriages allowed: minimum 0, default 24, maximum 255

/etc/conf/pack.d/marry/stubs.c
stub routines if the marriage driver is configured out of the kernel

/etc/conf/sdevice.d/marry
configures the marriage driver in (Y) or out (N) of the kernel

/etc/conf/node.d/marry
specifies permissions for /dev/rmarry when the kernel is rebuilt

/etc/conf/cf.d/mdevice
defines the major number of the block and character marry devices; the default is 76

/dev/rmarry
permanent character device node (minor 0) used by marry when adding, deleting, or listing marriages using ioctl.

/dev/marry/path
block device node (minor number 1 or greater) temporarily associated by the marriage driver with the regular file path

/usr/include/marry.h
header file for the marry driver, its space.c file and utility

See also

marry(ADM), mount(ADM), swap(ADM)
© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003