path: root/udev/udev.xml

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<article>
  <section>
    <title>udev</title>
    <refentry>
      <refentryinfo>
        <title>udev</title>
        <productname>udev</productname>
      </refentryinfo>

      <refmeta>
        <refentrytitle>udev</refentrytitle>
        <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
      </refmeta>

      <refnamediv>
        <refname>udev</refname>
        <refpurpose>Linux dynamic device management</refpurpose>
      </refnamediv>

      <refsect1><title>DESCRIPTION</title>
        <para>udev supplies the system software with device events, manages permissions
        of device nodes and may create additional symlinks in the <filename>/dev</filename>
        directory, or renames network interfaces. The kernel usually just assigns unpredictable
        device names based on the order of discovery. Meaningful symlinks or network device
        names provide a way to reliably identify devices based on their properties or
        current configuration.</para>

        <para>The udev daemon <citerefentry><refentrytitle>udevd</refentrytitle>
        <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> receives device uevents directly from
        the kernel whenever a device is added or removed from the system, or it changes its
        state. When udev receives a device event, it matches its configured set of rules
        against various device attributes to identify the device. Rules that match, may
        provide additional device information to be stored in the udev database, or information
        to be used to create meaningful symlink names.</para>

        <para>All device information udev processes, is stored in the udev database and
        sent out to possible event subscribers. Access to all stored data and the event
        sources are provided by the library libudev.</para>
      </refsect1>

      <refsect1><title>CONFIGURATION</title>
        <para>udev configuration files are placed in <filename>/etc/udev/</filename>
        and <filename>/lib/udev/</filename>. All empty lines, or lines beginning with
        '#' will be ignored.</para>

        <refsect2><title>Configuration file</title>
          <para>udev expects its main configuration file at <filename>/etc/udev/udev.conf</filename>.
          It consists of a set of variables allowing the user to override default udev values.
          The following variables can be set:</para>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>udev_root</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Specifies where to place the device nodes in the filesystem.
                The default value is <filename>/dev</filename>.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>udev_log</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The logging priority. Valid values are the numerical syslog priorities
                or their textual representations: <option>err</option>, <option>info</option>
                and <option>debug</option>.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>
        </refsect2>

        <refsect2><title>Rules files</title>
          <para>The udev rules are read from the files located in the
          default rules directory <filename>/lib/udev/rules.d/</filename>,
          the custom rules directory <filename>/etc/udev/rules.d/</filename>
          and the temporary rules directory <filename>/dev/.udev/rules.d/</filename>.
          All rule files are sorted and processed in lexical order, regardless
          in which of these directories they live.</para>

          <para>Rule files are required to have a unique name, duplicate file names
          are ignored. Files in <filename>/etc/udev/rules.d/</filename> have precedence
          over files with the same name in <filename>/lib/udev/rules.d/</filename>. This
          can be used to ignore a default rules file if needed.</para>

          <para>Every line in the rules file contains at least one key value pair.
          There are two kind of keys, match and assignment keys.
          If all match keys are matching against its value, the rule gets applied and the
          assign keys get the specified value assigned.</para>

          <para>A matching rule may rename a network interface, add symlinks
          pointing to the device node, or run a specified program as part of
          the event handling.</para>

          <para>A rule consists of a list of one or more key value pairs separated by
          a comma. Each key has a distinct operation, depending on the used operator. Valid
          operators are:</para>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>==</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Compare for equality.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>!=</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Compare for inequality.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>=</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Assign a value to a key. Keys that represent a list, are reset
                and only this single value is assigned.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>+=</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Add the value to a key that holds a list of entries.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>:=</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Assign  a  value  to  a key finally; disallow any later changes,
                which may be used to prevent changes by any later rules.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>

          <para>The following key names can be used to match against device properties.
          Some of the keys also match against properties of the parent devices in sysfs,
          not only the device that has generated the event. If multiple keys that match
          a parent device are specified in a single rule, all these keys must match at
          one and the same parent device.</para>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>ACTION</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the name of the event action.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>DEVPATH</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the devpath of the event device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>KERNEL</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the name of the event device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>NAME</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the name of the node or network interface. It can
                be used once the NAME key has been set in one of the preceding
                rules.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>SYMLINK</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the name of a symlink targeting the node. It can
                be used once a SYMLINK key has been set in one of the preceding
                rules. There may be multiple symlinks; only one needs to match.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>SUBSYSTEM</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the subsystem of the event device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>DRIVER</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the driver name of the event device. Only set for devices
                which are bound to a driver at the time the event is generated.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>ATTR{<replaceable>filename</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match sysfs attribute values of the event device. Trailing
                whitespace in the attribute values is ignored, if the specified match
                value does not contain trailing whitespace itself.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>KERNELS</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Search the devpath upwards for a matching device name.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>SUBSYSTEMS</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Search the devpath upwards for a matching device subsystem name.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>DRIVERS</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Search the devpath upwards for a matching device driver name.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>ATTRS{<replaceable>filename</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Search the devpath upwards for a device with matching sysfs attribute values.
                If multiple <option>ATTRS</option> matches are specified, all of them
                must match on the same device. Trailing whitespace in the attribute values is ignored,
                if the specified match value does not contain trailing whitespace itself.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>ENV{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match against a device property value.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>TAG</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match against a device tag.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>TEST{<replaceable>octal mode mask</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Test the existence of a file. An octal mode mask can be specified
                if needed.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>PROGRAM</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Execute a program. The key is true, if the program returns
                successfully. The device properties are made available to the
                executed program in the environment. The program's output printed to
                stdout, is available in the RESULT key.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>RESULT</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Match the returned string of the last PROGRAM call. This key can
                be used in the same or in any later rule after a PROGRAM call.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>

          <para>Most of the fields support a shell style pattern matching. The following
          pattern characters are supported:</para>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>*</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Matches zero, or any number of characters.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>?</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Matches any single character.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>[]</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>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 '!', any characters
                not enclosed are matched.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>

          <para>The following keys can get values assigned:</para>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>NAME</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The name, a network interface should be renamed to. Or as
                a temporary workaraound, the name a device node should be named.
                Usually the kernel provides the defined node name, or even creates
                and removes the node before udev even receives any event. Changing
                the node name from the kernel's default creates inconsistencies
                and is not supported. If the kernel and NAME specify different names,
                an error will be logged. Udev is only expected to handle device node
                permissions and to create additional symlinks, not to change
                kernel-provided device node names. Instead of renaming a device node,
                SYMLINK should be used. Symlink names must never conflict with
                device node names, it will result in unpredictable behavior.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>SYMLINK</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The name of a symlink targeting the node. Every matching rule will add
                this value to the list of symlinks to be created. Multiple symlinks may be
                specified by separating the names by the space character. In case multiple
                devices claim the same name, the link will always point to the device with
                the highest link_priority. If the current device goes away, the links will
                be re-evaluated and the device with the next highest link_priority will own
                the link. If no link_priority is specified, the order of the devices, and
                which one of them will own the link, is undefined. Claiming the same name for
                a symlink, which is or might be used for a device node, may result in
                unexpected behavior and is not supported.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>OWNER, GROUP, MODE</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The permissions for the device node. Every specified value overwrites
                the compiled-in default value.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>ATTR{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The value that should be written to a sysfs attribute of the
                event device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>ENV{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Set a device property value. Property names with a leading '.'
                are not stored in the database or exported to external tool or events.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>TAG</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Attach a tag to a device. This is used to filter events for users
                of libudev's monitor functionality, or to enumerate a group of tagged
                devices. The implementation can only work efficiently if only a few
                tags are attached to a device. It is only meant to be used in
                contexts with specific device filter requirements, and not as a
                general-purpose flag. Excessive use might result in inefficient event
                handling.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>RUN</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Add a program to the list of programs to be executed for a specific
                device. This can only be used for very short running tasks. Running an
                event process for a long period of time may block all further events for
                this or a dependent device. Long running tasks need to be immediately
                detached from the event process itself. If the option
                <option>RUN{<replaceable>fail_event_on_error</replaceable>}</option> is
                specified, and the executed program returns non-zero, the event will be
                marked as failed for a possible later handling.</para>
                <para>If no absolute path is given, the program is expected to live in
                <filename>/lib/udev</filename>, otherwise the absolute path must be
                specified. Program name and arguments are separated by spaces. Single quotes
                can be used to specify arguments with spaces.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>LABEL</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Named label where a GOTO can jump to.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>GOTO</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Jumps to the next LABEL with a matching name</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>IMPORT{<replaceable>type</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Import a set of variables as device properties,
                depending on <replaceable>type</replaceable>:</para>
                <variablelist>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>program</option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Execute an external program specified as the assigned value and
                      import its output, which must be in environment key
                      format. Path specification, command/argument separation,
                      and quoting work like in <option>RUN</option>.</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>file</option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Import a text file specified as the assigned value, which must be in
                      environment key format.</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>db</option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Import a single property specified as the assigned value from the
                      current device database. This works only if the database is already populated
                      by an earlier event.</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>parent</option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Import the stored keys from the parent device by reading
                      the database entry of the parent device. The value assigned to
                      <option>IMPORT{parent}</option> is used as a filter of key names
                      to import (with the same shell-style pattern matching used for
                      comparisons).</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                </variablelist>
                <para>If no option is given, udev will choose between <option>program</option>
                and <option>file</option> based on the executable bit of the file
                permissions.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>WAIT_FOR</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Wait for a file to become available or until a 10
                seconds timeout expires.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>OPTIONS</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>Rule and device options:</para>
                <variablelist>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>link_priority=<replaceable>value</replaceable></option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Specify the priority of the created symlinks. Devices with higher
                      priorities overwrite existing symlinks of other devices. The default is 0.</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>event_timeout=</option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Number of seconds an event will wait for operations to finish, before it
                      will terminate itself.</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>string_escape=<replaceable>none|replace</replaceable></option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Usually control and other possibly unsafe characters are replaced
                      in strings used for device naming. The mode of replacement can be specified
                      with this option.</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                  <varlistentry>
                    <term><option>watch</option></term>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>Watch the device node with inotify, when closed after being opened for
                      writing, a change uevent will be synthesised.</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </varlistentry>
                </variablelist>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>

          <para>The <option>NAME</option>, <option>SYMLINK</option>, <option>PROGRAM</option>,
          <option>OWNER</option>, <option>GROUP</option>, <option>MODE</option>  and  <option>RUN</option>
          fields support simple printf-like string substitutions. The <option>RUN</option>
          format chars gets applied after all rules have been processed, right before the program
          is executed. It allows the use of device properties set by earlier matching
          rules. For all other fields, substitutions are applied while the individual rule is
          being processed. The available substitutions are:</para>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$kernel</option>, <option>%k</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The kernel name for this device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$number</option>, <option>%n</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The kernel number for this device. For example, 'sda3' has
                kernel number of '3'</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$devpath</option>, <option>%p</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The devpath of the device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$id</option>, <option>%b</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The name of the device matched while searching the devpath upwards for
                  <option>SUBSYSTEMS</option>, <option>KERNELS</option>, <option>DRIVERS</option> and <option>ATTRS</option>.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$driver</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The driver name of the device matched while searching the devpath upwards for
                  <option>SUBSYSTEMS</option>, <option>KERNELS</option>, <option>DRIVERS</option> and <option>ATTRS</option>.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$attr{<replaceable>file</replaceable>}</option>, <option>%s{<replaceable>file</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The value of a sysfs attribute found at the device, where
                all keys of the rule have matched. If the matching device does not have
                such an attribute, follow the chain of parent devices and use the value
                of the first attribute that matches.
                If the attribute is a symlink, the last element of the symlink target is
                returned as the value.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$env{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</option>, <option>%E{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>A device property value.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$major</option>, <option>%M</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The kernel major number for the device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$minor</option>, <option>%m</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The kernel minor number for the device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$result</option>, <option>%c</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The string returned by the external program requested with PROGRAM.
                A single part of the string, separated by a space character may be selected
                by specifying the part number as an attribute: <option>%c{N}</option>.
                If the number is followed by the '+' char this part plus all remaining parts
                of the result string are substituted: <option>%c{N+}</option></para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$parent</option>, <option>%P</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The node name of the parent device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$name</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The current name of the device node. If not changed by a rule, it is the
                name of the kernel device.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$links</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The current list of symlinks, separated by a space character. The value is
                only set if an earlier rule assigned a value, or during a remove events.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$root</option>, <option>%r</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The udev_root value.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$sys</option>, <option>%S</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The sysfs mount point.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$tempnode</option>, <option>%N</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>The name of a created temporary device node to provide access to
                the device from a external program before the real node is created.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>%%</option></term>
              <listitem>
              <para>The '%' character itself.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>

            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>$$</option></term>
              <listitem>
              <para>The '$' character itself.</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>
        </refsect2>
      </refsect1>

      <refsect1><title>AUTHOR</title>
        <para>Written by Greg Kroah-Hartman <email>greg@kroah.com</email> and
        Kay Sievers <email>kay.sievers@vrfy.org</email>. With much help from
        Dan Stekloff and many others.</para>
      </refsect1>

      <refsect1>
        <title>SEE ALSO</title>
        <para><citerefentry>
            <refentrytitle>udevd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
          </citerefentry>, 
          <citerefentry>
            <refentrytitle>udevadm</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
        </citerefentry></para>
      </refsect1>
    </refentry>
  </section>
</article>