xref: /freebsd/sbin/devd/devd.8 (revision 4f29da19bd44f0e99f021510460a81bf754c21d2)
1.\"
2.\" Copyright (c) 2002 M. Warner Losh.
3.\" All rights reserved.
4.\"
5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
7.\" are met:
8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
9.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
10.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
11.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
12.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
13.\"
14.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
15.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
16.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
17.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
18.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
19.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
20.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
21.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
22.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
23.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
24.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
25.\"
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 Dd
37.Op Fl f Ar file
38.Op Fl n
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 indent-two
47.It Fl D
48Enable debugging messages.
49.It Fl d
50Run in the foreground instead of becoming a daemon.
51.It Fl f Ar file
52Use configuration file
53.Ar file
54instead of the default
55.Pa /etc/devd.conf .
56If option
57.Fl f
58is specified more than once, the last file specified is used.
59.It Fl n
60Do not process all pending events before becoming a daemon.
61Instead, call daemon right away.
62.El
63.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
64The
65.Nm
66utility
67is a system daemon that runs in the background all the time.
68Whenever a device is added to or removed from the device tree,
69.Nm
70will execute actions specified in
71.Xr devd.conf 5 .
72For example,
73.Nm
74might execute
75.Xr dhclient 8
76when an Ethernet adapter is added to the system, and kill the
77.Xr dhclient 8
78instance when the same adapter is removed.
79Another example would be for
80.Nm
81to use a table to locate and load via
82.Xr kldload 8
83the proper driver for an unrecognized device that is added to the system.
84.Pp
85The
86.Nm
87utility
88hooks into the
89.Xr devctl 4
90device driver.
91This device driver has hooks into the device configuration system.
92When nodes are added or deleted from the tree, this device will
93deliver information about the event to
94.Nm .
95Once
96.Nm
97has parsed the message, it will search its action list for that kind
98of event and perform the action with the highest matching value.
99For most mundane uses, the default handlers are adequate.
100However, for more advanced users, the power is present to tweak every
101aspect of what happens.
102.Pp
103The
104.Nm
105utility
106reads
107.Pa /etc/devd.conf
108or the alternate configuration file specified with a
109.Fl f
110option and uses that file to drive the rest of the process.
111While the format of this file is described in
112.Xr devd.conf 5 ,
113some basics are covered here.
114In the
115.Ic options
116section, one can define multiple directories to search
117for config files.
118All files in these directories whose names match the pattern
119.Pa *.conf
120are parsed.
121These files are intended to be installed by third party vendors that
122wish to hook into the
123.Nm
124system without modifying the user's other
125config files.
126.Pp
127All messages that
128.Nm
129receives are forwarded to the
130.Ux
131domain socket at
132.Pa /var/run/devd.pipe .
133.Sh FILES
134.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/devd.pipe" -compact
135.It Pa /etc/devd.conf
136The default
137.Nm
138configuration file.
139.It Pa /var/run/devd.pipe
140The socket used by
141.Nm
142to communicate with its clients.
143.El
144.Sh SEE ALSO
145.Xr devctl 4 ,
146.Xr devd.conf 5
147.Sh AUTHORS
148.An M. Warner Losh
149