xref: /freebsd/sbin/devd/devd.8 (revision f9218d3d4fd34f082473b3a021c6d4d109fb47cf)
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2.\" Copyright (c) 2002 M. Warner Losh.
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26.\" $FreeBSD$
27.\"
28.Dd October 17, 2002
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 d
37.Sh DESCRIPTION
38The
39.Nm
40daemon provides a way to have userland programs run when certain
41kernel events happen.
42.Pp
43The following options are accepted.
44.Bl -tag -width indent
45.It Fl d
46Enable debugging messages and run in the foreground instead of
47becoming a daemon.
48.El
49.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
50The
51.Nm
52utility
53is a system daemon that runs in the background all the time.
54Whenever a device is added to or removed from the device tree,
55.Nm
56will execute actions specified in
57.Xr devd.conf 5 .
58For example,
59.Nm
60might execute
61.Xr dhclient 8
62when an Ethernet adapter is added to the system, and kill the
63.Xr dhclient 8
64instance when the same adapter is removed.
65Another example would be for
66.Nm
67to use a table to locate and load via
68.Xr kldload 8
69the proper driver for an unrecognized device that is added to the system.
70.Pp
71The
72.Nm
73utility
74hooks into the
75.Xr devctl 4
76device driver.
77This device driver has hooks into the device configuration system.
78When nodes are added or deleted from the tree, this device will
79deliver information about the event to
80.Nm .
81Once
82.Nm
83has parsed the message, it will search its action list for that kind
84of event and perform the action with the highest matching value.
85For most mundane uses, the default handlers are adequate.
86However, for more advanced users, the power is present to tweak every
87aspect of what happens.
88.Pp
89The
90.Nm
91utility
92reads
93.Pa /etc/devd.conf
94and uses that file to drive the rest of the process.
95While the format of this file is described in
96.Xr devd.conf 5 ,
97some basics are covered here.
98In the
99.Ic options
100section, one can define multiple directories to search
101for config files.
102All files in each of these directories are parsed.
103These files are intended to be installed by third party vendors that
104wish to hook into the
105.Nm
106system without modifying the user's other
107config files.
108.Sh SEE ALSO
109.Xr devctl 4 ,
110.Xr devd.conf 5
111.Sh AUTHORS
112.An M. Warner Losh
113