path: root/udev.8

.TH UDEV 8 "October 2003" "" "Linux Administrator's Manual"
.SH NAME
udev \- Linux configurable dynamic device naming support
.SH SYNOPSIS
.BI udev " hotplug-subsystem"
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.B udev
creates or removes device node files usually located in the /dev directory.
Its goal is to provide a dynamic device directory that contains only the files
for devices that are actually present.
.P
As part of the
.B hotplug
subsystem,
.B udev
is executed if a kernel device is added or removed from the system.
On device creation,
.B udev
reads the sysfs directory of the given device to collect device attributes
like label, serial number or bus device number.
These attributes are treated as a key 
to determine a unique name for device file creation.
.B udev
maintains a database for devices present on the system.
.br
On device removal,
.B udev
queries the internal database for the name of the device file to be deleted.
.SH "CONFIGURATION"
All
.B udev
configuration files consist of a set of lines of text.  All empty
lines, and lines beginning with a '#' will be ignored.
.P

.B udev
expects its main configuration file at
.I /etc/udev/udev.conf.
The file consists of a set of variables and values that allow the user to
override default udev values.  The current set of variables that can be
overridden in this file is:
.TP
.B udev_root
This is the where in the filesystem to place the device nodes.  The default
value for this is
.I /udev/
.TP
.B udev_db
The name and location of the udev database.  The default value for this is
.I /udev/.udev.tdb
.TP
.B udev_rules
This is the location of the udev rules file.  The default value for this is
.I /etc/udev/udev.rules
.TP
.B udev_permissions
This is the location of the udev permission file.  The default value for this is
.I /etc/udev/udev.permissions
.TP
.B default_mode
This is the default mode for all nodes that have no explicit match in the
permissions file.  The default value for this is
.I 0666
.br
.P
.RI "A sample " udev.conf " might look like this:
.sp
.nf
# udev_root - where in the filesystem to place the device nodes
udev_root="/udev/"

# udev_db - The name and location of the udev database.
udev_db="/udev/.udev.tdb"

# udev_rules - The name and location of the udev rules file
udev_rules="/etc/udev/udev.rules"

# udev_permissions - The name and location of the udev permission file
udev_permissions="/etc/udev/udev.permissions"

# default_mode - set the default mode for all nodes that have no 
#                explicit match in the permissions file
default_mode="0666"
.fi
.P
The rules for udev to use when naming devices may specified at
.I /etc/udev/udev.rules
or specified by the
.I udev_rules
value in the 
.I /etc/udev/udev.conf
file.
.P
Every line in the rules file define the mapping between device attributes and
the device file name. It starts with a keyword defining the method used to
match, followed by one ore more keys to compare and the filename for the
device. One ore more optional symlinks targeting the node may be specified.
.br
If no matching configuration is found, the default kernel device name
is used.
.P
The line format is:
.sp
.I method, key,[key,...] name [, symlink]
.sp
where valid methods with corresponding keys are:
.TP
.B CALLOUT
calling external program, that returns a string to match
.br
.RB "keys: " BUS ", " PROGRAM ", " ID
.TP
.B LABEL
device label or serial number, like USB serial number, SCSI UUID or
file system label
.br
.RB "keys: " BUS ", "
.I sysfs_attribute
.TP
.B NUMBER
device number on the bus, like PCI bus id
.br
.RB "keys: " BUS ", " ID
.TP
.B TOPOLOGY
device position on bus, like physical port of USB device
.br
.RB "keys: " BUS ", " PLACE
.TP
.B REPLACE
string replacement of the kernel device name
.br
.RB "key: " KERNEL_NAME
.P
The methods are applied in the following order:
.BR CALLOUT ", " LABEL ", " NUMBER ", " TOPOLOGY ", " REPLACE "."
.P
.RB "The " NAME " ," SYMLINK " and " PROGRAM
fields support simple printf-like string substitution:
.TP
.B %n
The "kernel number" of the device.
for example, 'sda3' has a "kernel number" of '3'
.TP
.B %M
The kernel major number for the device.
.TP
.B %m
The kernel minor number for the device.
.TP
.B %b
The bus id for the device.
.TP
.B %c
The CALLOUT program returned string.
(This does not work within the PROGRAM field for the obvious reason.)
.TP
.B %D
Use the devfs style disk name for this device.
For partitions, this will result in 'part%n'
If this is not a partition, it will result in 'disk'.
.P
.RI "A sample " udev.rules " might look like this:"
.sp
.nf
# if /sbin/scsi_id returns "OEM 0815" device will be called disk1
CALLOUT, BUS="scsi", PROGRAM="/sbin/scsi_id", ID="OEM 0815", NAME="disk1"

# USB printer to be called lp_color
LABEL, BUS="usb", serial="W09090207101241330", NAME="lp_color"

# sound card with PCI bus id 00:0b.0 to be called dsp
NUMBER, BUS="pci", ID="00:0b.0", NAME="dsp"

# USB mouse at third port of the second hub to be called mouse1
TOPOLOGY, BUS="usb", PLACE="2.3", NAME="mouse1"

# ttyUSB1 should always be called pda with two additional symlinks
REPLACE, KERNEL="ttyUSB1", NAME="pda", SYMLINK="palmtop handheld"

# multiple USB webcams with symlinks to be called webcam0, webcam1, ...
LABEL, BUS="usb", model="WebCam V3", NAME="video%n", SYMLINK="webcam%n"
.fi
.P
Permissions and ownership for the created device files may specified at
.I /etc/udev/udev.permissions
or specified by the
.I udev_permission
value in the
.I /etc/udev/udev.conf
file.
.br
Every line lists a device name followed by owner, group and permission
mode. All values are separated by colons. The name field may contain a
pattern to apply the values to a whole class of devices.
.br
If
.B udev
was built using klibc or is used before the user database is accessible (e.g.
.BR initrd "(4)), only numeric owner and group values may be used."
.sp
.RI "A sample " udev.permissions " might look like this:"
.sp
.nf
#name:user:group:mode
input/*:root:root:644
ttyUSB1:0:8:0660
video*:root:video:0660
dsp1:::0666
.fi
.P
A number of different fields in the above configuration files support a simple
form of shell style pattern matching. It supports the following pattern characters:
.TP
.B *
Matches zero, one, or more characters.
.TP
.B ?
Matches any single character, but does not match zero characters.
.TP
.B [ ]
Matches any single character specified within the brackets. For example, the
pattern string "tty[SR]" would match either "ttyS" or "ttyR".  Ranges are also
supported within this match with the '-' character.  For example, to match on
the range of all digits, the pattern [0-9] would be used. If the first character
following the '[' is a '!' then any character not enclosed is matched.
.SH "FILES"
.nf
/sbin/udev                           udev program
/etc/udev/*                          udev config files
/etc/hotplug.d/default/udev.hotplug  hotplug symlink to udev program
.fi
.LP
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR hotplug (8)
.PP
The
.I http://linux-hotplug.sourceforge.net/
web site.
.SH AUTHORS
.B udev
was developed by Greg Kroah-Hartman <greg@kroah.com> with much help from
Dan Stekloff <dsteklof@us.ibm.com>, Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@vrfy.org>, and
many others.