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[[Linux]]:
<hide>
[[udev]]
[[page type::article]]
==Notes==
[[thing type::software]]
This text seemed like it might be useful information, even if it
</hide>
contained some inaccuracies. Original document was published under
==Navigation==
[http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html GNU General Public License,
[[computing]]: [[software]]: [[Linux]]: [[udev]]
Version 2], and those with appropriate knowledge should feel free to
==About==
edit or expand the text.
[[udev]] is the device manager used by most popular [[Linux]] kernels, including [[Debian]].
==Original Credits
==Subpages==
:This document is written by Daniel Drake <dan@reactivated.net>
* [[/writing rules]]
:Please do not hesitate to send feedback!
* [[/Palm]]: connecting to a [[Palm Pilot]] with [[JPilot]]
:Copyright &copy; 2003-2005 Daniel Drake
==Links==
:This document is licensed under the GNU General Public License,
* {{wikipedia}}
Version 2.
* [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KubuntuIpod?highlight=%28mediamanager%29 KubuntuIpod] shows an example of udev usage
==Edit Log==
* '''2005-10-05''' Copied from
http://www.reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html, with minor editing
for clarity. Probably needs considerable format editing.
==Text==
===Why?===
As stated above, writing rules for udev is an optional process. By
default, you can plug a device in, and the a relevant node (e.g.
/dev/sda for a mass-storage device) will be there, just like in
previous /dev implementations.
However, udev allows you to customise the naming of device nodes. There
are two reasons why you might want to do this: convenience, and
persistent naming.
Take the example of using udev, so that when your printer is plugged
in, it gets named as /dev/printer and also as the usual /dev/lp0. It's
not only convenience (e.g. reading and interpreting "printer" as
opposed to "lp0"), its a solution for non-persistent naming. Say that I
have two printers - a HP laser printer and an Epson inkjet. When they
are both plugged in and on, I have /dev/lp0 and /dev/lp1.
How do I know which node refers to which printer? There is no easy way.
The first printer that got connected was assigned name "lp0", and the
second "lp1". Plugging in my printers in a different order would swap
the names here, and that would mess up my scripts that always expect my
HP laser printer to be lp1.
However, if my HP laser printer got named lp_hp (as well as lpX) and my
other printer got named lp_epson (as well as lpY), then my scripts
could just refer to those names. udev magic can control this and ensure
that these '''persistent names''' always point to the device that I
intended.
For external mass-storage devices (e.g. usb hard disks), persistent
naming is very helpful in that it allows you to hardcode accurate
device paths into your /etc/[[fstab]].
It is important to understand that writing rules is simply a means of
customizing udev behaviour. Writing rules is not a workaround for the
problem where no device nodes for your particular device exist. If no
matching rules exist, udev will create the node anyway, using the name
that was supplied by the kernel.
===The basics of writing rules===
When populating /dev, udev decides which nodes to include, and how to
name them, by reading a series of rules files.
Default udev rules are stored in /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules. You
may find it interesting to look over this file - it includes a few
examples, and then some default rules proving a devfs-style /dev
layout. However, you should not write rules into this file directly, to
reduce hassle while updating your udev installation in the future.
Files in /etc/udev/rules.d/ are parsed in '''lexical''' order. udev
will stop processing rules as soon as it finds a matching rule in a
file for the new item of hardware that has been detected. It is
important that your own rules get processed before the udev defaults,
otherwise your own naming schemes will not take effect! I suggest that
you keep your own rules in a file at /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules
(this doesn't exist by default - create it). As 10 comes before 50, you
know that your rules will be looked at first. It is important that the
filenames of your rule files end with the '''.rules''' suffix,
otherwise they will not be used.
As your own rules will effectively mask out the udev defaults which
create the base /dev layout, it is recommended that you also specify
devfs-style names/symlinks for the rules you write, so that you get the
sensible defaults plus your own names.
In rule files, lines starting with a "#" are treated as comments.
Every uncommented line in the file corresponds to a rule.
Rules are composed of keys. Keys are seperated by commas. Some keys are
used for reading and matching information, others are used for
assigning information and performing actions.
# At least one identification key should be provided, which will match
the rule to any number of devices in the system. These are listed in
the later section: [[#Identifying devices through basic keys]].
# At least one assignment key should be provided, to control how the
resultant device node is created. These include NAME, SYMLINK, OWNER,
GROUP and MODE, all of which are described in this document.
Common rules will use basic identification keys to determine the device
to name, and then have a NAME assignement key to define the device node
name. udev will only create one node for one device, so if you want it
to be accessible through multiple nodes, then you have to specify the
other nodes in the SYMLINK assignment key.
I'll take a slightly modified udev example rule to illustrate this:
BUS="usb", SYSFS{serial}="HXOLL0012202323480", NAME="lp_epson",
SYMLINK="printers/epson_stylus"
The identification keys here are BUS and SYSFS{serial}. The assignment
keys here are NAME and SYMLINK. udev will match this rule against a
device that is connected through the USB bus and with a serial number
of HXOLL0012202323480. '''Note that <u>all</u> (as opposed
to any) specified keys must be matched for udev to use the rule to name
a device.'''
udev will name this node lp_epson, and it will be located at
/dev/lp_epson.
udev will also create a symlink to /dev/lp_epson, located at
/dev/printers/epson_stylus (the printers directory will be
automatically created). You can now print to your Epson printer by
sending data to /dev/printers/epson_stylus or /dev/lp_epson.
Any rules that you have added or modified will '''not''' take effect
until you notify udev of this. Make sure you remember to run the
following every time you modify any rule files: # udevstart
===Additional automated customisation for NAME and SYMLINK
parameters===
In the NAME and SYMLINK parameters of your rules, you are able to use
basic operators to assist the naming of devices. Hackers will know this
sort of thing as ''[[printf]]-like string substitution''. There are a
number of operators which can compose some or all of your NAME/SYMLINK
parameters. These operators refer to kernel-data relating to the
device. Take this example: BUS="usb", SYSFS{vendor}="FUJIFILM",
SYSFS{model}="M100", NAME="camera%n"
The %n operator will be replaced with the "kernel number" for the
camera device, to produce a NAME such as camera0, camera1, etc.
Another common operator is %k. This represents what the kernel would
name the device, e.g. "hda1". You may often see rules which have
NAME="%k" to produce the default names for the hardware. In these
rules, customisation is usually done through the SYMLINK parameter.
A full list of operators, with explanations, can be found in the udev
man page.
===Using shell-style pattern matching in keys===
You can use shell style pattern matching to provide even more
flexibility when writing keys. Taking a default udev rule:
KERNEL="ts*", NAME="input/%k"
The * operator is used here, which matches literally anything - zero,
one, or more characters of any kind. The rule literally says:
{| width=80% align=center
|-
|Match a device identified by a KERNEL name starting with the letters
"ts" optionally followed by anything at all, and name it with the
KERNEL name (%k) under the input directory.
|}
The ? operator is similar, and matches any single character (but not
zero characters).
You can also use square brackets [ ] to match any single character.
Direct quote from udev man page:
{| width=80% align=center
|-
|For example, the pattern string "tty[SR]" would match either "ttyS" or
"ttyR".
|}
You can also specify ranges that can be matched, e.g. [0-9] would match
any single digit. Using an example rule from a default udev
installation: KERNEL="fd[0-9]*", NAME="floppy/%n"
This rule says:
{| width=80%
|-
|Match a device identified by a KERNEL name starting with the letters
"fd", followed by any single digit, optionally followed by anything at
all. Name the device with the kernel number of the device (%n) under
the floppy directory.
|}
You can use these wildcards/pattern matches in any type of key,
including both basic keys and sysfs-based identification (see below for
explanations of these key types).
I have purposely left out some information on this topic (particularly
the flexibility of using [ ] operators) that is out of the scope of
basic rule-writing documentation. More information on this topic can be
found in the udev man page.
===Key-writing basics===
udev provides a few basic key matching methods, and also provides
flexible ways of matching information in SYSFS. A typical rule will
match both normal keys (e.g. BUS and KERNEL), as well as SYSFS keys to
differentiate between different hardware plugged in throught the same
port.
You may be wondering, "How do I find the serial number of my printer?
What is the model of my camera?". Rule writing isn't as hard as it
sounds. The trickiest bit is finding your device in /sys, and deciding
which info to use.
====Identifying devices through basic keys====
See the udev man page for more info on these keys.
The valid keys are:
* BUS - match the bus type of the device.
* KERNEL - match the kernel device name.
* DRIVER - match the name of the kernel driver.
* SUBSYSTEM - match the kernel subsystem name.
* ID - match the device number on the bus (e.g. PCI bus ID).
* PLACE - match the physical position where the device is plugged into
(useful for USB).
The ID and PLACE keys do have their uses, but they are not commonly
used in rules. This document focuses on using BUS and KERNEL keys, as
well as SYSFS{...} keys (detailed in the next section). I will show how
to use these keys by example.
For extra flexibility, udev also provides keys to call external scripts
and examine their result, and to examine environment variables. This is
out of scope of this document. Look at the udev man page for more
details.
====Identifying devices through SYSFS files====
Background information: SYSFS stores many small files under a tree of
directories which provide information about your hardware. One file
typically contains just one "data item" - e.g. device name,
manufacturer, or product ID.
Note that SYSFS{...} keys can be combined with the basic keys described
in the previous section.
You can use keys in the format SYSFS{filename} to match specific info
from SYSFS, where filename corresponds to a file in your SYSFS tree.
For example, when my camera is connected, there is a file located at
/sys/block/sda/device/model which contains "USB 2.0M DSC". To match
this, I could use the following key: SYSFS{model} = "USB 2.0M DSC"
'''Note that any file in sysfs can be matched in this manner, but if
you match more than one file (through multiple keys), then you must
only match files that exist in the same directory.''' Typically, there
will be several directories giving information about one device. You
cannot mix and match (as shown by example below).
Luckily, the process of rule writing does not entail hunting through
millions of files in SYSFS, the udevinfo utility does the hard work.
This program is included in the udev distribution.
The first thing you need to do is find a directory somewhere in /sys
that corresponds to your hardware, and includes a file named "dev", as
udevinfo can only work on directories of this type. These directories
are all found under either /sys/block or /sys/class - there is no point
looking anywhere else! However, udevinfo will follow links through this
directory and read info found from other sections of sysfs.
Once you have found a directory of this type, you can use the following
command to assist you in the creation of writing keys for udev rules: #
udevinfo -a -p /sys/path/to/hardware/info
You may find that finding the correct place in /sys to run udevinfo on
is not obvious. Chances are the device you just plugged in has already
careted a device node
(e.g. /dev/sda), in which case, udevinfo can be helpful! Taking the
example of my /dev/sda node, running the following command will point
you to the appropriate area of sysfs: # udevinfo -q path -n /dev/sda
/block/sda
The output of the command (shown above) is telling me that the sysfs
path to start at is /sys/block/sda. I would now run "udevinfo -a -p
/sys/block/sda". These two commands can be chained together, like so:
# udevinfo -a -p $(udevinfo -q path -n /dev/sda)
Sidenote: You may notice that we previously provided full paths
(/sys/some/path) to udevinfo beforehand, but now we are providing
sysfs-relative paths (/some/path) by chaining these commands. This does
not matter - both types of path are accepted.
Moving on to rule-writing, some snipped output of the results of my
"udevinfo -a -p /sys/block/sda" command is shown below, with colour
added.
<font color="#003300"> follow the class device's "device" looking
at the device chain at
'/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb3/3-3/3-3:1.0/host0/0:0:0:0':
BUS="scsi" ID="0:0:0:0" SYSFS{detach_state}="0" SYSFS{type}="0"
SYSFS{max_sectors}="240" SYSFS{device_blocked}="0"
SYSFS{queue_depth}="1" SYSFS{scsi_level}="3" SYSFS{vendor}=" "
SYSFS{model}="USB 2.0M DSC " SYSFS{rev}="1.00" SYSFS{online}="1"
</font>
<font color="#0000ff"> looking at the device chain at
'/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb3/3-3': BUS="usb" ID="3-3"
SYSFS{detach_state}="0" SYSFS{bNumInterfaces}=" 1"
SYSFS{bConfigurationValue}="1" SYSFS{bmAttributes}="c0"
SYSFS{bMaxPower}=" 0mA" SYSFS{idVendor}="052b" SYSFS{idProduct}="1514"
SYSFS{bcdDevice}="0100" SYSFS{bDeviceClass}="00"
SYSFS{bDeviceSubClass}="00" SYSFS{bDeviceProtocol}="00"
SYSFS{bNumConfigurations}="1" SYSFS{speed}="12"
SYSFS{manufacturer}="Tekom Technologies, Inc" SYSFS{product}="USB 2.0M
DSC"
</font>
The udevinfo tool provides a lot of information which you can simply
copy-paste as udev rules. The reason that I have colour coded the above
output is to point out that '''you generally cannot mix and match
information from different parts of the udevinfo output'''. In the
above output, I could not combine information from the different
coloured sections - this is because each section of output refers to a
different directory in SYSFS. For example, the following rule would not
work:
<font color="#003300">BUS="scsi",</font> <font
color="#0000ff">SYSFS{manufacturer}="Tekom Technologies, Inc",
NAME="%k"</font>
This rule would not work because I am combining information found in
the section beginning with BUS="scsi" (green) with information only
found in the blue section. The rule would work if I used BUS="usb",
sticking only to information found in the blue section above.
You will notice that a lot of information is not relevant for writing
basic rules (there is so much of it!), you should generally be looking
for information that you recognise and know will not change (e.g. model
name).
'''Note that if you write your own rule to identify a device, the
default devfs-style rules will not take effect!''' It is usually
sensible to use NAME="%k" and specify your own extra names in the
SYMLINK parameter so that you do not lose the default sensible names.
I will show three examples of this rule writing based on udevinfo
output process below. I will then attempt to list some device-dependant
tips and tricks for locating the correct info.
A reader wrote to me and informed me that he found KDE's control centre
useful for writing rules. Apparently, information about USB devices
(and others) can be found in the "Info Centre" section of the KDE
Control Centre. This interface shows information such as serial number,
vendor ID, etc. If you prefer a GUI-like approach, you might want to
investigate this.
The current releases of gnome-volume-manager are unable to treat
symlink-nodes as real devices. Conversely as described above, you may
wish to specify your own naming in the NAME parameter and specify %k in
the SYMLINK
parameter.
The behaviour of your own rules masking the defaults can be overcome if
you write multiple-SYMLINK style rules.
===Using multiple SYMLINK style rules===
Another recent feature is the ability to write rules that do not
specify a NAME, but instead they simply specify SYMLINK keys. This
allows you to avoid the issue where your own rules effectively mask the
udev defaults.
Take the rule: KERNEL="hdc", SYMLINK="dvd"
When udev finds this rule, it will take a mental note of it. Upon
finding another rule matching the same device which also includes a
NAME parameter, udev will create the node as specified by the NAME
parameter, plus symbolic links as specified by the SYMLINK parameters
of both rules.
To put it into practical terms, when udev is naming nodes for my hdc
device, it will use the default rules for block devices as usual, with
the addition of my personal symlink "dvd".
Similarly to normal rules, rules of this type will only take effect if
udev is able to find them before it finds a rule specifying a NAME
parameter.
Controlling ownership and permissions
As well as controlling the naming of the device nodes which are
created, udev rules also allow you to control ownership and permission
attributes on that device node.
The GROUP key allows you to define which unix group should own the
device node. Here's an example from the udev defaults, which defines
that the video group will own framebuffer (fb) devices:
KERNEL="fb[0-9]*", NAME="fb/%n", SYMLINK="%k", GROUP="video"
The OWNER key, perhaps less useful, allows you to define which unix
user should own the device node. Assuming the slightly odd situation
where you would want "john" to own your floppy devices, you could use:
KERNEL="fd[0-9]*", OWNER="john"
You'll notice in the above rule that we didn't specify any NAME or
SYMLINK keys. This is similar to the multiple symlink style where udev
will take a mental note that we want john to own floppy nodes, and will
apply that ownership once it finds a rule which defines a NAME for the
floppy device nodes.
Building on the style mentioned above, you can do even more flashy
things. The udev defaults use the following rule to define that all the
sound device nodes shall be owned by the "audio" group:
SUBSYSTEM="sound", GROUP="audio"
This prevents the need to excessively provide a GROUP="audio" key on
every following rule which names sound devices.
udev defaults to creating nodes with unix permissions of 0660
(read/write to owner and group), which is configured by the
default_mode setting inside /etc/udev/udev.conf. There may be some
situations where you do not want to use the default permissions on your
device node. Fortunately, you can easily override the permissions in
your rules using the MODE assignment key. As an example, the following
rule defines that the inotify node shall be readable and writable to
everyone: KERNEL="inotify", NAME="misc/%k", SYMLINK="%k", MODE="0666"
Example: Writing a rule for my USB printer
After plugging in my printer, I started looking around some /sys
directories for a relevant place to start. I didn't get anywhere, but I
noticed that my printer had been given device node /dev/lp0. udevinfo
was able to provide me with a useful path: # udevinfo -q path -n
/dev/lp0 /class/usb/lp0
Running "udevinfo -a -p /sys/class/usb/lp0" provided me with a heap of
info, as usual. I picked out the relevant bits for unique device
identification:
looking at the device chain at
'/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb3/3-3': BUS="usb"
SYSFS{manufacturer}="EPSON" SYSFS{product}="USB Printer"
SYSFS{serial}="L72010011070626380"
My udev rule becomes: BUS="usb", SYSFS{serial}="L72010011070626380",
NAME="%k", SYMLINK="epson_680"
And my printer nodes exist at /dev/lp0 (or /dev/lp1 if another printer
was plugged in beforehand) and /dev/epson_680 always points at the
device node for that particular printer.
Example: Writing a rule for my USB-Storage digital camera
Quick Intro: My camera identifies itself as an external SCSI hard disk
(it uses the usb-storage driver which is also
used by devices such as USB hard disks and flash-card readers). I can
then mount the partition on that disk and copy images over. Not all
cameras work like this - many require external software (e.g. gphoto2)
to be able to access photos.
This one is a bit tricky. Several nodes are created by default when my
camera is connected : /dev/sda and /dev/sda1, and possibly even
/dev/sg1. This is an example where specifity is important - if your
rule is not specific enough, it could match any of the above 3 nodes.
sda1 is the node that I would like as my /dev/camera, as that is what
gets mounted. udevinfo did not point out any useful differences between
sda, sda1, and sg1. I decided that a reliable way to differentiate
between these 3 nodes would be to look at the KERNEL name.
A key such as KERNEL="sd?1" would match KERNEL names such as "sda1",
"sdb1", "sdc1", and equally importantly, it will not match KERNEL names
such as sda, sdb, or sg1. The purpose of this key is to ignore the
/dev/sda and /dev/sg1 nodes. The device is a digital camera - I would
not dream of fdisking it or anything like that, so these 2 nodes are
pretty useless to me. The key attempts to capture the /dev/sda1 node,
which is mountable and therefore useful!
As this node (sda1) is treated as a block device, looking in /sys/block
would be a good place to start.
In my /sys/block, I have a directory named sda. In my /sys/block/sda, I
have a directory named sda1. Both of these directories have dev files
in, so they are OK to run udevinfo on. Running the following dumps a
lot of information about my camera and the USB port it is connected
through.
# udevinfo -a -p /sys/block/sda/sda1
In the udevinfo output, I also noticed this bit of useful and
understandable information:
SYSFS{product}="USB 2.0M DSC"
So that gives me my rule. For completeness, I also include a BUS key
(this was also found in the udevinfo output).
BUS="usb", SYSFS{product}="USB 2.0M DSC", KERNEL="sd?1", NAME="%k",
SYMLINK="camera"
Now, when my camera is plugged in, it will be named /dev/sda1 (or, if
sda1 isnt available, it might be called /dev/sdb1) and will always be
correctly linked to from /dev/camera. The /dev/sda (or sdb) node still
appears as normal, but the important thing is that my custom persistent
"camera" symlink points to the mountable partition.
Additional notes on writing rules for USB storage
Carl Streeter, the owner of a large USB hard disk, wrote to me and
explained that unlike in my digital camera example, the /dev/sda node
is useful to him. He pointed out that he does occasionally need to use
tools such as fdisk and hdparm on that node.
Carl's rule is:
BUS="usb", KERNEL="sd*", SYSFS{product}="USB 2.0 Storage Device",
NAME="%k", SYMLINK="usbhd%n"
This rule creates symlinks such as:
* /dev/usbhd - The fdiskable node
* /dev/usbhd1 - The first partition (mountable)
* /dev/usbhd2 - The second partition (mountable)
We agreed that depending on the situation and device in question, there
are reasons for both wanting and not wanting the non-mountable /dev/sda
node. Use whichever setup suits you best.
Another difficult situation is having a multiple-slot USB-storage card
reader. These types of device generally do not inform the host when new
cards are plugged in or out, so plugging a card into an unused slot
while the reader is plugged in will not create the extra device node
needed for mounting!
This problem also applies to other USB disks - e.g. if you create a new
partition, the new partition node will not appear until you re-plug the
device.
udev provides a solution here - it is able to create nodes for all
partitions of a block device. For every rule that you specify, the
block device will have all 16 partition nodes created. To achieve this,
you can simply modify the NAME key, as shown below: BUS="usb",
SYSFS{product}="USB 2.0 Storage Device", NAME{all_partitions}="usbhd"
You will now have nodes named: usbhd, usbhd1, usbhd2, usbhd3, ...,
usbhd15.
===Examples===
====Writing convenience rules for my CD drives====
I have two CD drives in my PC - a DVD reader, and a CD rewriter. My
DVD is hdc and my CDRW is hdd. I would not expect this to change,
unless I manually changed the cabling of my system.
Still, some people (myself included) like to have nodes such as
/dev/dvd and /dev/cdrw for convenience. Since we know the "hdX" values
for these drives, writing rules is simple. The examples below should be
self explanatory. BUS="ide", KERNEL="hdc", NAME="%k", SYMLINK="dvd
cdroms/cdrom%n" BUS="ide", KERNEL="hdd", NAME="%k", SYMLINK="cdrw
cdroms/cdrom%n"
You may have noticed that the default 50-udev.rules file contains a
rule which runs a script to produces names for block devices. Do not be
confused by this - as usual, because your own rules are located in a
file which is processed before the default rules, the defaults will not
be used when naming the hardware you have written rules for.
====Writing a rule for your USB Visor Palm Pilot====
These devices work as USB-serial devices, so by default, you only get
the ttyUSB1 node. The user-space palm utilities rely on /dev/pilot, so
you need to use a rule to create this. The following rule will do the
job: BUS="usb", SYSFS{product}="Palm Handheld", KERNEL="ttyUSB*",
SYMLINK="pilot"
This was adapted from Carsten Clasohm's blog entry, which includes a
useful discussion of the situation. You may also wish to add ownership
and permission keys to the rule to suit your setup.
====Writing a rule to name my network interface====
An interesting new feature in recent udev versions is the ability to
rename your network interfaces, like the nameif utility does. Network
interfaces do not show up in /dev, but they are generally referenced by
names (e.g. with ifconfig). Despite the differences, the rule writing
process is almost identical.
As usual, udevinfo comes to our aid in rule-writing. In my example, I
wish to rename my "eth0" network device (the following output is
snipped): # udevinfo -a -p /sys/class/net/eth0/ looking at class device
'/sys/class/net/eth0': SYSFS{address}="00:52:8b:d5:04:48"
Every network adapter has its own unique MAC-address, so I chose to use
this when writing my rule. This will not change, unless you change your
network card. There is one caveat here: make sure you use the MAC
address you obtain from udevinfo (as above), because it is case
sensitive. Be careful when using utilities such as ifconfig as they
will capitalize the letters.
An example rule is shown below: KERNEL="eth*",
SYSFS{address}="00:52:8b:d5:04:48", NAME="lan"
You will need to reload the net driver for this rule to take effect.
You can either unload and reload the module, or simply reboot the
system. You will also need to reconfigure your system to use "lan"
rather than "eth0". I had some troubles getting this going (the
interface wasn't being renamed) until I had completely dropped all
references to eth0.
After that, you should be able to use "lan" instead of "eth0" in any
calls to ifconfig or similar utilities.
===Tips for finding the appropriate places in SYSFS===
I'm looking for some more device specific tips here. Please contact me
with any you can provide.
* If the device you are looking to write rules for has created a device
node under /dev, then you are in luck! Run the following command to get
an appropriate /sys path: udevinfo -q path -n /dev/yournode
* Always use udevinfo to assist the rule-writing process. Always use
udevinfo to look under /sys/block or /sys/class (it will not start
reading a chain from anywhere else).
* If you get totally stuck, use the following command to find all "dev"
files under /sys (udevinfo can work on directories containing this
file): find /sys -iname dev
* If your device is a flash-card reader, usb flash-drive, or digital
camera that acts as usb-storage, that is created as /dev/sdX, then
start looking in /sys/block/sdX.
* If applicable, make sure you identify the difference between sdX and
sdX1 in the above situation. This can be done with the key
KERNEL="sd?1" to match sdX1, or KERNEL="sd?" to match sdX.
* For USB printers that are created as /dev/lpX, then you should start
looking in /sys/class/usb/lpX.
* The usb scanner driver has recently been removed from the kernel and
re-implemented in userspace (as part of the SANE package). You do not
(and can not) write rules for this hardware as it does not rely on
specific kernel drivers.
* Remember that unfortunately, the kernel does not export information
for all devices into sysfs, meaning that you simply can't write rules
for some devices yet. On 20/02/04, the udev author stated that there
are 162 drivers left to convert to sysfs.
===Debugging your rules===
If you have written rules and remembered to run udevstart but they do
not appear to be taking effect, there are a couple of ways you can
debug them.
The file /etc/udev/udev.conf contains a udev_log option. Setting this
option to yes will cause udev to log some useful information about
which rules are being applied to which nodes into the system logger.
The logs will be included in /var/log/messages for most users.
Additionally, if you know the path in sysfs for the node you want to
create, you can use udevtest to see a rundown on what udev would do
with the node. For example: # udevtest /sys/class/sound/dsp/ version
056 looking at '/class/sound/dsp/' opened class_dev->name='dsp'
configured rule in '/etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules[132]' applied,
added symlink '%k' configured rule in
'/etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules[132]' applied, 'dsp' becomes
'sound/%k' creating device node '/dev/sound/dsp', major = '14', minor =
'3', mode = '0660', uid = '0', gid = '18'
udevtest is only a debugging/testing tool - it does not actually create
the device node, even though it says it doing so!

Latest revision as of 16:06, 11 January 2014

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computing: software: Linux: udev

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udev is the device manager used by most popular Linux kernels, including Debian.

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