Named pipes on the UNIX PC, is there a problem with ls(1)?

[Lenny Tropiano]

The "mknod(1M)" command can be used to create character and block
devices, as well as, FIFO's or named pipes.   mknod(1M) needs to
be run as the super-user if you are creating anything but fifo's.

Usage: mknod name c|b maj min
-or-   mknod name p

Normally when you create a named pipe, the ls(1) command signifies this
the same as it does with directories (d), character devices (c), and
block devices (b) with "p".  For some reason this doesn't work.  For
example the file /usr/spool/lp/FIFO is a named pipe, but the directory
doesn't tell us.

$ ls -l /usr/spool/lp/FIFO
-rw-------  1 lp      other         0 Sep 25 19:42 /usr/spool/lp/FIFO 
^
 Here should be a "p".

Here's a short program to test for FIFO status:

/* isfifo.c */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>

main(argc,argv)
int argc;
char *argv[];
{
	struct	stat	statbuf;

	if (argc < 2) {
		printf("usage: %s file\n", argv[0]);
		exit(1);
	}
	if (stat(argv[1],&statbuf) < 0) {
		perror("stat()");
		exit(1);
	}
	printf("%s", argv[1]);
	if (statbuf.st_mode & S_IFIFO) 
		printf(" is ");
	else
		printf(" isn't ");
	printf("a fifo\n");
}

$ isfifo isfifo.c
isfifo.c isn't a fifo

$ isfifo /usr/spool/lp/FIFO
/usr/spool/lp/FIFO is a fifo

Why can't ls(1) do this too?  I've seen it work elsewhere.

-Lenny
---
Lenny Tropiano             ICUS Software Systems         w: +1 (516) 582-5525
lenny at icus.islp.ny.us      Telex: 154232428 ICUS         h: +1 (516) 968-8576
{talcott,boulder,hombre,pacbell,sbcs}!icus!lenny         attmail!icus!lenny
        ICUS Software Systems -- PO Box 1; Islip Terrace, NY  11752