mem(4)                       Device Drivers Manual                      mem(4)

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

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

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

Linux man-pages 6.7               2023-10-31                            mem(4)