allocate(1)

NAME

     allocate - device allocation

SYNOPSIS

     allocate [-s] [-U uname] device

     allocate [-s] [-U uname] -g dev-type

     allocate [-s] [-U uname] -F device

DESCRIPTION

     The  allocate  utility  manages  the  ownership  of  devices
     through  its allocation mechanism. It ensures that each dev-
     ice is used by only one qualified user at a time.

     The  device argument specifies the device to be manipulated.
     To  preserve  the integrity of the device's owner, the allo-
     cate operation  is executed on all the device special  files
     associated with that device.

     The argument dev-type is the device type to be  operated  on
     and can only be used with the -g option.

     The default allocate operation allocates the device  special
     files  associated with device to the uid of the current pro-
     cess.

     If the -F option is specified, the device  cleaning  program
     is executed when allocation is performed. This cleaning pro-
     gram is found in /etc/security/lib. The name of this program
     is  found in the  device_allocate(4) entry for the device in
     the  dev-exec field.

     Only authorized users may allocate a  device.  The  required
     authorizations are specified in device_allocate(4).

OPTIONS

     The following options are supported:

     -g dev-type
           Allocates a non-allocated device  with  a  device-type
           matching dev-type.

     -s    Silent. Suppresses any diagnostic output.

     -F device
           Reallocates the device allocated to another user. This
           option  is often used with -U to reallocate a specific
           device to a  specific  user.  Only  a  user  with  the
           solaris.devices.revoke  authorization  is permitted to
           use this option.

     -U uname
           Uses the user ID uname instead of the user ID  of  the
           current  process  when  performing the allocate opera-
           tion. Only  a  user  with  the  solaris.devices.revoke
           authorization is permitted to use this option.

EXIT STATUS

     The following exit values are returned:

     non-zero
           An error occurred.

FILES

     /etc/security/device_allocate

     /etc/security/device_maps

     /etc/security/dev/*

     /etc/security/lib/*

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     deallocate(1),  list_devices(1),  bsmconv(1M),   dminfo(1M),
     device_allocate(4), device_maps(4), attributes(5)

NOTES

     The functionality described in this man  page  is  available
     only  if  the  Basic Security Module (BSM) has been enabled.
     See bsmconv(1M) for more information.

     /etc/security/dev, mkdevalloc(1M), and mkdevmaps(1M) may not
     be  supported  in  a future release of the Solaris operating
     environment.