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From: Shane Ambler <FreeBSD@ShaneWare.Biz>
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Subject: Re: viewing major and minor device numbers
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On 26/10/2013 09:01, David Newman wrote:

> In this case I'm OK going with devfs, but thanks for clearing up why the
> output is different in 9.x.
> 
> I suppose one could say this "breaks" mknod, or at least makes it much
> harder to use. But since the same thing is available from devfs, and it
> doesn't require messing with device numbers, I guess it's OK.
> 

Sounds to me like the old way is beginning to break, and may be ready
for removal.

>From man mknod under compatibility -

As of FreeBSD 5.0, device nodes are managed by the device file system
devfs(5), making the mknod utility superfluous.