NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

MEM(4)                    Linux Programmer's Manual                   MEM(4)

NAME         top

       mem, kmem, port - system memory, kernel memory and system ports

DESCRIPTION         top

       /dev/mem is a character device file that is an image of the main
       memory of the computer.  It may be used, for example, to examine (and
       even patch) the system.
       Byte addresses in /dev/mem are interpreted as physical memory
       addresses.  References to nonexistent locations cause errors to be
       returned.
       Examining and patching is likely to lead to unexpected results when
       read-only or write-only bits are present.
       Since Linux 2.6.26, and depending on the architecture, the
       CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM kernel configuration option limits the areas
       which can be accessed through this file.  For example: on x86, RAM
       access is not allowed but accessing memory-mapped PCI regions is.
       It is typically created by:
              mknod -m 660 /dev/mem c 1 1
              chown root:kmem /dev/mem
       The file /dev/kmem is the same as /dev/mem, except that the kernel
       virtual memory rather than physical memory is accessed.  Since Linux
       2.6.26, this file is available only if the CONFIG_DEVKMEM kernel
       configuration option is enabled.
       It is typically created by:
              mknod -m 640 /dev/kmem c 1 2
              chown root:kmem /dev/kmem
       /dev/port is similar to /dev/mem, but the I/O ports are accessed.
       It is typically created by:
              mknod -m 660 /dev/port c 1 4
              chown root:kmem /dev/port

FILES         top

       /dev/mem
       /dev/kmem
       /dev/port

SEE ALSO         top

       chown(1), mknod(1), ioperm(2)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of release 4.12 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest version of this page, can be found at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux                            2015-01-02                           MEM(4)