xref: /freebsd/sbin/devd/devd.8 (revision 1669d8afc64812c8d2d1d147ae1fd42ff441e1b1)
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26.\" $FreeBSD$
27.\"
28.Dd November 24, 2005
29.Dt DEVD 8
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm devd
33.Nd "device state change daemon"
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.Nm
36.Op Fl Ddn
37.Op Fl f Ar file
38.Sh DESCRIPTION
39The
40.Nm
41daemon provides a way to have userland programs run when certain
42kernel events happen.
43.Pp
44The following options are accepted.
45.Bl -tag -width ".Fl f Ar file"
46.It Fl D
47Enable debugging messages.
48.It Fl d
49Run in the foreground instead of becoming a daemon.
50.It Fl f Ar file
51Use configuration file
52.Ar file
53instead of the default
54.Pa /etc/devd.conf .
55If option
56.Fl f
57is specified more than once, the last file specified is used.
58.It Fl n
59Do not process all pending events before becoming a daemon.
60Instead, call daemon right away.
61.El
62.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
63The
64.Nm
65utility
66is a system daemon that runs in the background all the time.
67Whenever a device is added to or removed from the device tree,
68.Nm
69will execute actions specified in
70.Xr devd.conf 5 .
71For example,
72.Nm
73might execute
74.Xr dhclient 8
75when an Ethernet adapter is added to the system, and kill the
76.Xr dhclient 8
77instance when the same adapter is removed.
78Another example would be for
79.Nm
80to use a table to locate and load via
81.Xr kldload 8
82the proper driver for an unrecognized device that is added to the system.
83.Pp
84The
85.Nm
86utility
87hooks into the
88.Xr devctl 4
89device driver.
90This device driver has hooks into the device configuration system.
91When nodes are added or deleted from the tree, this device will
92deliver information about the event to
93.Nm .
94Once
95.Nm
96has parsed the message, it will search its action list for that kind
97of event and perform the action with the highest matching value.
98For most mundane uses, the default handlers are adequate.
99However, for more advanced users, the power is present to tweak every
100aspect of what happens.
101.Pp
102The
103.Nm
104utility
105reads
106.Pa /etc/devd.conf
107or the alternate configuration file specified with a
108.Fl f
109option and uses that file to drive the rest of the process.
110While the format of this file is described in
111.Xr devd.conf 5 ,
112some basics are covered here.
113In the
114.Ic options
115section, one can define multiple directories to search
116for config files.
117All files in these directories whose names match the pattern
118.Pa *.conf
119are parsed.
120These files are intended to be installed by third party vendors that
121wish to hook into the
122.Nm
123system without modifying the user's other
124config files.
125.Pp
126All messages that
127.Nm
128receives are forwarded to the
129.Ux
130domain socket at
131.Pa /var/run/devd.pipe .
132.Sh FILES
133.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/devd.pipe" -compact
134.It Pa /etc/devd.conf
135The default
136.Nm
137configuration file.
138.It Pa /var/run/devd.pipe
139The socket used by
140.Nm
141to communicate with its clients.
142.El
143.Sh SEE ALSO
144.Xr devctl 4 ,
145.Xr devd.conf 5
146.Sh AUTHORS
147.An M. Warner Losh
148