xref: /freebsd/sbin/devd/devd.8 (revision 41059135ce931c0f1014a999ffabc6bc470ce856)
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2.\" Copyright (c) 2002 M. Warner Losh.
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26.\" $FreeBSD$
27.\"
28.Dd October 5, 2016
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 dnq
37.Op Fl f Ar file
38.Op Fl l Ar num
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40The
41.Nm
42daemon provides a way to have userland programs run when certain
43kernel events happen.
44.Pp
45The following options are accepted.
46.Bl -tag -width ".Fl f Ar file"
47.It Fl d
48Run in the foreground instead of becoming a daemon and log additional information for debugging.
49.It Fl f Ar file
50Use configuration file
51.Ar file
52instead of the default
53.Pa /etc/devd.conf .
54If option
55.Fl f
56is specified more than once, the last file specified is used.
57.It Fl l Ar num
58Limit concurrent socket connections to
59.Ar num .
60The default connection limit is 10.
61.It Fl n
62Do not process all pending events before becoming a daemon.
63Instead, call daemon right away.
64.It Fl q
65Quiet mode.
66Only log messages at priority LOG_WARNING or above.
67.El
68.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
69The
70.Nm
71utility
72is a system daemon that runs in the background all the time.
73Whenever a device is added to or removed from the device tree,
74.Nm
75will execute actions specified in
76.Xr devd.conf 5 .
77For example,
78.Nm
79might execute
80.Xr dhclient 8
81when an Ethernet adapter is added to the system, and kill the
82.Xr dhclient 8
83instance when the same adapter is removed.
84Another example would be for
85.Nm
86to use a table to locate and load via
87.Xr kldload 8
88the proper driver for an unrecognized device that is added to the system.
89.Pp
90The
91.Nm
92utility
93hooks into the
94.Xr devctl 4
95device driver.
96This device driver has hooks into the device configuration system.
97When nodes are added or deleted from the tree, this device will
98deliver information about the event to
99.Nm .
100Once
101.Nm
102has parsed the message, it will search its action list for that kind
103of event and perform the action with the highest matching value.
104For most mundane uses, the default handlers are adequate.
105However, for more advanced users, the power is present to tweak every
106aspect of what happens.
107.Pp
108The
109.Nm
110utility
111reads
112.Pa /etc/devd.conf
113or the alternate configuration file specified with a
114.Fl f
115option and uses that file to drive the rest of the process.
116While the format of this file is described in
117.Xr devd.conf 5 ,
118some basics are covered here.
119In the
120.Ic options
121section, one can define multiple directories to search
122for config files.
123All files in these directories whose names match the pattern
124.Pa *.conf
125are parsed.
126These files are intended to be installed by third party vendors that
127wish to hook into the
128.Nm
129system without modifying the user's other
130config files.
131.Pp
132Since
133.Xr devctl 4
134allows only one active reader,
135.Nm
136multiplexes it, forwarding all events to any number of connected clients.
137Clients connect by opening the SOCK_SEQPACKET
138.Ux
139domain socket at
140.Pa /var/run/devd.seqpacket.pipe .
141.Sh FILES
142.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/devd.seqpacket.pipe" -compact
143.It Pa /etc/devd.conf
144The default
145.Nm
146configuration file.
147.It Pa /var/run/devd.seqpacket.pipe
148The socket used by
149.Nm
150to communicate with its clients.
151.It Pa /var/run/devd.pipe
152A deprecated socket retained for use with old clients.
153.El
154.Sh SEE ALSO
155.Xr devctl 4 ,
156.Xr devd.conf 5
157.Sh HISTORY
158The
159.Nm
160utility first appeared in
161.Fx 5.0 .
162.Sh AUTHORS
163.An M. Warner Losh
164