MEM Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (4) Updated: 21 November 2025 Index   NAME mem, kmem, port - system memory, kernel memory and system ports   DESCRIPTION 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 mem are interpreted as physical memory addresses. References to non-existent 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. It is typically created by: mknod -m 660 /dev/mem c 1 1 chown root:mem /dev/mem The file kmem is the same as mem, except that the kernel virtual memory rather than physical memory is accessed. It is typically created by: mknod -m 640 /dev/kmem c 1 2 chown root:mem /dev/kmem Port is similar to mem, but the IO ports are accessed. It is typically created by: mknod -m 660 /dev/port c 1 4 chown root:mem /dev/port   FILES /dev/mem /dev/kmem /dev/port   SEE ALSO   Index NAME DESCRIPTION FILES SEE ALSO This document was created by using the manual pages. Time: 12:11:42 GMT, March 24, 2025