.TH UDEV 8 "October 2003" "" "Linux Administrator's Manual"
.SH NAME
udev \- Linux configurable dynamic device naming support
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B udev
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.B udev
creates or removes device node files usually located in the /dev directory.
As part of the
.B hotplug
subsystem,
.B udev
is exectuted if a kernel device is added or removed from the system.
.P
On device creation,
.B udev
reads the sysfs directory of the given device, to collect device attributes
like label, serial number or bus device number.
These attributes are passed as a key to the namedev subsystem
to receive a unique name for device file creation.
namedev maintains a database for devices present on the system.
.P
On device removal,
.B udev
queries the namedev database for the name of the device file to delete.
.P
namedev expects its configuration at
.I /etc/udev/namedev.config.
The file consists of a set of lines. All empty lines and
lines beginning with a '#' will be ignored.
.br
Every line defines the mapping between device attributes and the device file
name. It starts with a keyword defining the method used to match, followed by
one ore more keys to compare, optional ownwership and permission settings and
the filename for the device. If no matching configuration is found,
the default kernel device name is used.
.P
.I method, key,[key,...] [owner,] [group,] [mode,] name
.TP
.B LABEL
device label or serial number, like USB serial number, SCSI UUID or
file system label
.br
keys: \fBBUS\fP, \fIsysfs_attribute\fP
.TP
.B NUMBER
device number on the bus, like PCI bus id
.br
keys: \fBBUS\fP, \fBID\fP
.TP
.B TOPOLOGY
device position on bus, like physical port of USB device
.br
keys: \fBBUS\fP, \fBPLACE\fP
.TP
.B REPLACE
string replacement of the kernel device name
.br
key: \fBKERNEL_NAME\fP
.TP
.B CALLOUT
calling external program, that returns a string to match
.br
keys: \fBBUS\fP, \fBPROGRAM\fP, \fBID\fP
.SH "EXAMPLE"
.nf
# USB printer to be called lp_color
LABEL, BUS="usb", serial="W09090207101241330", NAME="lp_color"

# sound card with PCI bus id 00:0b.0 to be called dsp
NUMBER, BUS="pci", ID="00:0b.0", NAME="dsp"

# USB mouse at third port of the second hub to be called mouse1
TOPOLOGY, BUS="usb", PLACE="2.3", NAME="mouse1"

# ttyUSB1 should always be called pda
REPLACE, KERNEL="ttyUSB1", NAME="pda"

# if /sbin/dev_id returns "V0815" device will be called dev0815
CALLOUT, PROGRAM="/sbin/dev_id", BUS="pci", ID="V0815", NAME="dev0815"
.fi
.SH "FILES"
.nf
.ft B
.ft
/sbin/udev                           udev program
/etc/udev/*                          udev config and database files
/etc/hotplug.d/default/udev.hotplug  hotplug symlink to udev program
.fi
.LP
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.B hotplug (8)
.PP
The
.I http://linux-hotplug.sourceforge.net/
web site.
.SH AUTHORS
udev was developed by Greg Kroah-Hartman <greg@kroah.com> with much help from
Dan Stekloff <dsteklof@us.ibm.com> and many others.