The /etc/path_to_inst File

A list of mappings between physical devices to instance names is always kept in the /etc/path_to_inst file. In the following example, we review the device to instance name mapping for an SBUS-based SPARC system:

"/sbus@1f,0" 0 "sbus"
"/sbus@1f,0/sbusmem@2,0" 2 "sbusmem"
"/sbus@1f,0/sbusmem@3,0" 3 "sbusmem"
"/sbus@1f,0/sbusmem@0,0" 0 "sbusmem"
"/sbus@1f,0/sbusmem@1,0" 1 "sbusmem"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000" 1 "fas"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/ses@f,0" 1 "ses"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@1,0" 16 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@0,0" 15 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@3,0" 18 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@2,0" 17 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@5,0" 20 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@4,0" 19 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@6,0" 21 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@9,0" 23 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@8,0" 22 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@a,0" 24 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/st@1,0" 8 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/st@0,0" 7 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@c,0" 26 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/st@3,0" 10 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@b,0" 25 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/st@2,0" 9 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@e,0" 28 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/st@5,0" 12 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@d,0" 27 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/st@4,0" 11 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/sd@f,0" 29 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@2,8800000/st@6,0" 13 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,CS4231@d,c000000" 0 "audiocs"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000" 0 "dma"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000" 0 "esp"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@0,0" 30 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@1,0" 31 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@2,0" 32 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@3,0" 33 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@4,0" 34 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@5,0" 35 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@6,0" 36 "sd"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/st@0,0" 14 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/st@1,0" 15 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/st@2,0" 16 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/st@3,0" 17 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/st@4,0" 18 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/st@5,0" 19 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/st@6,0" 20 "st"
"/sbus@1f,0/sbusmem@f,0" 15 "sbusmem"
"/sbus@1f,0/sbusmem@d,0" 13 "sbusmem"
"/sbus@1f,0/sbusmem@e,0" 14 "sbusmem"
"/sbus@1f,0/cgthree@1,0" 0 "cgthree"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,hme@e,8c00000" 0 "hme"
"/sbus@1f,0/zs@f,1000000" 1 "zs"
"/sbus@1f,0/zs@f,1100000" 0 "zs"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,bpp@e,c800000" 0 "bpp"
"/sbus@1f,0/lebuffer@0,40000" 0 "lebuffer"
"/sbus@1f,0/lebuffer@0,40000/le@0,60000" 0 "le"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,hme@2,8c00000" 1 "hme"
"/sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fdtwo@f,1400000" 0 "fd"
"/options" 0 "options"
"/pseudo" 0 "pseudo"

Here, we can see entries for the network interface /sbus@1f,0/SUNW,hme@2,8c00000, as well as the floppy disk /sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fdtwo@f,1400000 and the SBUS sbus@1f,0. For a PCI-based system, like a Sun Blade 100, the output would look like this:

"/pci@1f,0" 0 "pcipsy"
"/pci@1f,0/isa@7" 0 "ebus"
"/pci@1f,0/isa@7/power@0,800" 0 "power"
"/pci@1f,0/isa@7/dma@0,0" 0 "isadma"
"/pci@1f,0/isa@7/dma@0,0/parallel@0,378" 0 "ecpp"
"/pci@1f,0/isa@7/dma@0,0/floppy@0,3f0" 0 "fd"
"/pci@1f,0/isa@7/serial@0,2e8" 1 "su"
"/pci@1f,0/isa@7/serial@0,3f8" 0 "su"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3" 0 "pmubus"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/i2c@0" 0 "smbus"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/i2c@0/temperature@30" 0 "max1617"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/i2c@0/card-reader@40" 0 "scmi2c"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/i2c@0/dimm@a0" 0 "seeprom"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/fan-control@0" 0 "grfans"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/ppm@0" 0 "grppm"
"/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/beep@0" 0 "grbeep"
"/pci@1f,0/ebus@c" 1 "ebus"
"/pci@1f,0/usb@c,3" 0 "ohci"
"/pci@1f,0/usb@c,3/mouse@2" 0 "hid"
"/pci@1f,0/usb@c,3/keyboard@4" 1 "hid"
"/pci@1f,0/firewire@c,2" 0 "hci1394"
"/pci@1f,0/ide@d" 0 "uata"
"/pci@1f,0/ide@d/dad@0,0" 0 "dad"
"/pci@1f,0/ide@d/sd@1,0" 0 "sd"
"/pci@1f,0/sound@8" 0 "audiots"
"/pci@1f,0/SUNW,m64B@13" 0 "m64"
"/pci@1f,0/network@c,1" 0 "eri"
"/pci@1f,0/pci@5" 0 "pci_pci"
"/options" 0 "options"
"/SUNW,UltraSPARC-IIe@0,0" 0 "us"
"/pseudo" 0 "pseudo"

Here, we can see that all of the “sbus” entries have been replaced by the “pci” entries, and that the network interface is no longer an hme, but an eri (“/pci@1f,0/network@c,1” 0 “eri”). In addition, some completely new types of hardware, such as a smart card reader (“/pci@1f,0/pmu@3/i2c@0/card-reader@40” 0 “scmi2c”) are also available.