I work in documentation in the Linux Technology Center at IBM, and I was assigned a bug related to the mknod man page. It looks like a line should be added to the description explaining that the permission mode is processed as an octal (like in the description for chmod). I have attached the bug description for our bugzilla below. I was going to send a patch, but the man page was generated from the command code with help2man, so I can't edit the man page. Thanks, Kristin ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Kristin Thomas Linux Information Development Linux Technology Center Ph. (512) 838-4546, T/L 678-4546 Bldg. 908 1D036 [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From bugzilla.linux.ibm.com: Description: Hardware Environment:z800/2015-F20-FICON Software Environment:SLES8-RC6 Steps to Reproduce: 1.issue mknod command with leading zeroes for minor number mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbn b 254 004 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbn1 b 254 005 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbn2 b 254 006 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbn3 b 254 007 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbo b 254 008 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbo1 b 254 009 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbo2 b 254 010 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbo3 b 254 011 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbp b 254 012 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbp1 b 254 013 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbp2 b 254 014 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbp3 b 254 015 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbq b 254 016 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbq1 b 254 017 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbq2 b 254 018 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbq3 b 254 019 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbr b 254 020 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbr1 b 254 021 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbr2 b 254 022 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbr3 b 254 023 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbs b 254 024 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbs1 b 254 025 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbs2 b 254 026 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbs3 b 254 027 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbt b 254 028 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbt1 b 254 029 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbt2 b 254 030 mknod -m 660 /dev/dasdbt3 b 254 031 2. 3. Actual Results: brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 0 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbo brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 0 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbo1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 8 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbo2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 9 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbo3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 10 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbp brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 11 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbp1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 12 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbp2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 13 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbp3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 14 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbq brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 15 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbq1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 1 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbq2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 1 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbq3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 16 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbr brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 17 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbr1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 18 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbr2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 19 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbr3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 20 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbs brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 21 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbs1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 22 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbs2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 23 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbs3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 2 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbt brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 2 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbt1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 24 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbt2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 25 Dec 5 16:49 dasdbt3 Expected Results: brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 8 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbo brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 9 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbo1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 10 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbo2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 11 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbo3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 12 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbp brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 13 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbp1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 14 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbp2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 15 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbp3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 16 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbq brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 17 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbq1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 18 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbq2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 19 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbq3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 20 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbr brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 21 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbr1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 22 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbr2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 23 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbr3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 24 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbs brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 25 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbs1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 26 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbs2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 27 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbs3 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 28 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbt brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 29 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbt1 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 30 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbt2 brw-rw---- 1 root root 254, 31 Dec 6 09:16 dasdbt3 Additional Information: expected results generated by same commands with all leading zeroes removed when you have to add nodes for 128 devices this behavior will be seen if you use simple scripts - man/info pages does not say not to and it intermittently seems to work ------- Additional Comment #1 From Raj([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 2002-12-10 06:43 ------- mknod works as expected. Any number with a leading zero is parsed as an 'octal' number. So number '16' would be number '16' , but number '016' would turn out to be number '14' in decimal. This is not a bug. It works the same way on i386 machines too. To add some more, doing mknod b foo 212 0x12 , would result in a minor number of '18' as it is parsed as a hex value. Thank you ! ------- Additional Comment #2 From Dave Fosmire([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 2002-12-10 09:54 ------- if "mknod works as expected. Any number with a leading zero is parsed as an 'octal' number. So number '16' would be number '16' , but number '016' would turn out to be number '14' in decimal." then it would help the casual observer - one who uses the man or info pages - if this was documented there. I believe it is RTFM not RTSC - I did checn the man/info pages (which are identical) prior to submitting this. ------- Additional Comment #3 From Raj([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 2002-12-10 23:56 ------- I have checked up with the Redhat-8.0 on an i386 box. The man pages/ info pages do not list out the seen behaviour. Yes, it is a Documentation bug. I had a look at the source code of 'mknod' which a part of fileutils package. The program very much is expecting input of octal & hex numbers and is handling them by calling xstrtoumax() which is another routine internal to fileutils package. This has to be documented. I have checked the documentation of 'chmod' and it clearly specfies that octal numbering should be used. The same way 'mknod' has to documented accordingly. Khoa: Please advise me on how to proceed with documentation issues ? Thank you ! _______________________________________________ Bug-fileutils mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-fileutils
