xref: /freebsd/sbin/devd/devd.8 (revision 595e514d0df2bac5b813d35f83e32875dbf16a83)
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26.\" $FreeBSD$
27.\"
28.Dd January 30, 2013
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.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
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 l Ar num
60Limit concurrent
61.Pa /var/run/devd.pipe
62connections to
63.Ar num .
64The default connection limit is 10.
65.It Fl n
66Do not process all pending events before becoming a daemon.
67Instead, call daemon right away.
68.El
69.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
70The
71.Nm
72utility
73is a system daemon that runs in the background all the time.
74Whenever a device is added to or removed from the device tree,
75.Nm
76will execute actions specified in
77.Xr devd.conf 5 .
78For example,
79.Nm
80might execute
81.Xr dhclient 8
82when an Ethernet adapter is added to the system, and kill the
83.Xr dhclient 8
84instance when the same adapter is removed.
85Another example would be for
86.Nm
87to use a table to locate and load via
88.Xr kldload 8
89the proper driver for an unrecognized device that is added to the system.
90.Pp
91The
92.Nm
93utility
94hooks into the
95.Xr devctl 4
96device driver.
97This device driver has hooks into the device configuration system.
98When nodes are added or deleted from the tree, this device will
99deliver information about the event to
100.Nm .
101Once
102.Nm
103has parsed the message, it will search its action list for that kind
104of event and perform the action with the highest matching value.
105For most mundane uses, the default handlers are adequate.
106However, for more advanced users, the power is present to tweak every
107aspect of what happens.
108.Pp
109The
110.Nm
111utility
112reads
113.Pa /etc/devd.conf
114or the alternate configuration file specified with a
115.Fl f
116option and uses that file to drive the rest of the process.
117While the format of this file is described in
118.Xr devd.conf 5 ,
119some basics are covered here.
120In the
121.Ic options
122section, one can define multiple directories to search
123for config files.
124All files in these directories whose names match the pattern
125.Pa *.conf
126are parsed.
127These files are intended to be installed by third party vendors that
128wish to hook into the
129.Nm
130system without modifying the user's other
131config files.
132.Pp
133All messages that
134.Nm
135receives are forwarded to the
136.Ux
137domain socket at
138.Pa /var/run/devd.pipe .
139.Sh FILES
140.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/devd.pipe" -compact
141.It Pa /etc/devd.conf
142The default
143.Nm
144configuration file.
145.It Pa /var/run/devd.pipe
146The socket used by
147.Nm
148to communicate with its clients.
149.El
150.Sh SEE ALSO
151.Xr devctl 4 ,
152.Xr devd.conf 5
153.Sh AUTHORS
154.An M. Warner Losh
155