[OpenIndiana-discuss] Recreate /dev/null

[Laurent Blume]

On 25/04/13 14:53, James Carlson wrote:
<snip>
> Unfortunately, that's where my knowledge of the system (based on my
> years in PSARC) ends.  I don't know how to repair damage like you're
> describing.  I just know that the people telling you to "rm" these fake
> files or run mknod are misinformed.  That'll never work.

That particular /dev/null problem was actually discussed recently on 
IRC. Also, you can easily trigger kernel panics when tinkering with 
stuff there, that will only make things worse, and the system 
unbootable. Applies to S11.1 and Illumos-based distros.

 From the feedback I got from people @oracle and @illumos, the bug has 
been known for years, but there is no practical solution other than 
going back to a known good BE. The new /dev is very mysterious, and its 
internals half-baked.

Laurent