MEM(4) BSD Programmer's Manual (i386) MEM(4)NAME
mem, kmem - memory files
DESCRIPTION
The special file /dev/mem is an interface to the physical memory of the
computer. Byte offsets in this file are interpreted as physical memory
addresses. Reading and writing this file is equivalent to reading and
writing memory itself. Only offsets within the bounds of /dev/mem are al-
lowed.
Kernel virtual memory is accessed through the interface /dev/kmem in the
same manner as /dev/mem. Only kernel virtual addresses that are currently
mapped to memory are allowed.
On ISA the I/O memory space begins at physical address 0x000a0000 and
runs to 0x00100000. The per-process data size for the current process is
UPAGES long, and ends at virtual address 0xfe000000.
Writeability of these devices is controlled by the system securelevel(7).
FILES
/dev/mem
/dev/kmem
SEE ALSOsecurelevel(7)HISTORY
The /dev/mem and /dev/kmem files appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
MirOS BSD #10-current May 2, 1991 1