README - pub/scm/linux/hotplug/udev - Git at Google

 udev - Linux userspace device management

 Integrating udev in the system has complex dependencies and may differ from
 distribution to distribution. A system may not be able to boot up or work
 reliably without a properly installed udev version. The upstream udev project
 does not recommend replacing a distro's udev installation with the upstream
 version.

 The upstream udev project's set of default rules may require a most recent
 kernel release to work properly. This is currently version 2.6.32.

 Tools and rules shipped by udev are not public API and may change at any time.
 Never call any private tool in /lib/udev from any external application; it might
 just go away in the next release. Access to udev information is only offered
 by udevadm and libudev. Tools and rules in /lib/udev and the entire contents of
 the /dev/.udev directory are private to udev and do change whenever needed.

 Requirements:
   - Version 2.6.34 of the Linux kernel with sysfs, procfs, signalfd, inotify,
     unix domain sockets, networking and hotplug enabled

   - Some architectures might need a later kernel, that supports accept4(),
     or need to backport the accept4() syscall wiring in the kernel.

   - These options are needed:
       CONFIG_HOTPLUG=y
       CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH=""
       CONFIG_NET=y
       CONFIG_UNIX=y
       CONFIG_SYSFS=y
       CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED*=n
       CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
       CONFIG_INOTIFY_USER=y
       CONFIG_SIGNALFD=y

   - These options might be needed:
       CONFIG_TMPFS=y
       CONFIG_TMPFS_POSIX_ACL=y (user ACLs for device nodes)
       CONFIG_BLK_DEV_BSG=y (SCSI devices)

   - Udev does not work with the CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED* option.

   - Unix domain sockets (CONFIG_UNIX) as a loadable kernel module may work,
     but it is not supported.

   - The deprecated hotplug helper /sbin/hotplug should be disabled in the
     kernel configuration, it is not needed today, and may render the system
     unusable because the kernel may create too many processes in parallel
     so that the system runs out-of-memory.

   - The proc filesystem must be mounted on /proc, and the sysfs filesystem must
     be mounted at /sys. No other locations are supported by a standard
     udev installation.

   - The default rule sset requires the following group names resolvable at udev startup:
       disk, cdrom, floppy, tape, audio, video, lp, tty, dialout, and kmem.
     Especially in LDAP setups, it is required that getgrnam() be able to resolve
     these group names with only the rootfs mounted and while no network is
     available.

   - Some udev extras have external dependencies like:
       libacl, libglib2, libusb, usbutils, pciutils, and gperf.
     All these extras can be disabled with configure options.

 Setup:
   - At bootup, the /dev directory should get the 'devtmpfs' filesystem
     mounted. Udev manages the permissions and ownership of the kernel-created
     device nodes, and udev possibly creates additional symlinks. If needed, udev also
     works on an empty 'tmpfs' filesystem, but some static device nodes like
     /dev/null, /dev/console, /dev/kmsg are needed to be able to start udev itself.

   - The udev daemon should be started to handle device events sent by the kernel.
     During bootup, the kernel can be asked to send events for all already existing
     devices so that they too can be configured by udev. This is usually done by:
       /sbin/udevadm trigger --type=subsystems
       /sbin/udevadm trigger --type=devices

   - Restarting the daemon never applies any rules to existing devices.

   - New/changed rule files are picked up automatically; there is no daemon
     restart or signal needed.

 Operation:
   - Based on events the kernel sends out on device creation/removal, udev
     creates/removes device nodes in the /dev directory.

   - All kernel events are matched against a set of specified rules, which
     possibly hook into the event processing and load required kernel
     modules to set up devices. For all devices, the kernel exports a major/minor
     number; if needed, udev creates a device node with the default kernel
     name. If specified, udev applies permissions/ownership to the device
     node, creates additional symlinks pointing to the node, and executes
     programs to handle the device.

   - The events udev handles, and the information udev merges into its device
     database, can be accessed with libudev:
       http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/libudev/
       http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/gudev/

 For more details about udev and udev rules, see the udev man pages:
       http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev/

 Please direct any comment/question to the linux-hotplug mailing list at:
   linux-hotplug@vger.kernel.org
	udev - Linux userspace device management

	Integrating udev in the system has complex dependencies and may differ from
	distribution to distribution. A system may not be able to boot up or work
	reliably without a properly installed udev version. The upstream udev project
	does not recommend replacing a distro's udev installation with the upstream
	version.

	The upstream udev project's set of default rules may require a most recent
	kernel release to work properly. This is currently version 2.6.32.

	Tools and rules shipped by udev are not public API and may change at any time.
	Never call any private tool in /lib/udev from any external application; it might
	just go away in the next release. Access to udev information is only offered
	by udevadm and libudev. Tools and rules in /lib/udev and the entire contents of
	the /dev/.udev directory are private to udev and do change whenever needed.

	Requirements:
	- Version 2.6.34 of the Linux kernel with sysfs, procfs, signalfd, inotify,
	unix domain sockets, networking and hotplug enabled

	- Some architectures might need a later kernel, that supports accept4(),
	or need to backport the accept4() syscall wiring in the kernel.

	- These options are needed:
	CONFIG_HOTPLUG=y
	CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH=""
	CONFIG_NET=y
	CONFIG_UNIX=y
	CONFIG_SYSFS=y
	CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED*=n
	CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
	CONFIG_INOTIFY_USER=y
	CONFIG_SIGNALFD=y

	- These options might be needed:
	CONFIG_TMPFS=y
	CONFIG_TMPFS_POSIX_ACL=y (user ACLs for device nodes)
	CONFIG_BLK_DEV_BSG=y (SCSI devices)

	- Udev does not work with the CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED* option.

	- Unix domain sockets (CONFIG_UNIX) as a loadable kernel module may work,
	but it is not supported.

	- The deprecated hotplug helper /sbin/hotplug should be disabled in the
	kernel configuration, it is not needed today, and may render the system
	unusable because the kernel may create too many processes in parallel
	so that the system runs out-of-memory.

	- The proc filesystem must be mounted on /proc, and the sysfs filesystem must
	be mounted at /sys. No other locations are supported by a standard
	udev installation.

	- The default rule sset requires the following group names resolvable at udev startup:
	disk, cdrom, floppy, tape, audio, video, lp, tty, dialout, and kmem.
	Especially in LDAP setups, it is required that getgrnam() be able to resolve
	these group names with only the rootfs mounted and while no network is
	available.

	- Some udev extras have external dependencies like:
	libacl, libglib2, libusb, usbutils, pciutils, and gperf.
	All these extras can be disabled with configure options.

	Setup:
	- At bootup, the /dev directory should get the 'devtmpfs' filesystem
	mounted. Udev manages the permissions and ownership of the kernel-created
	device nodes, and udev possibly creates additional symlinks. If needed, udev also
	works on an empty 'tmpfs' filesystem, but some static device nodes like
	/dev/null, /dev/console, /dev/kmsg are needed to be able to start udev itself.

	- The udev daemon should be started to handle device events sent by the kernel.
	During bootup, the kernel can be asked to send events for all already existing
	devices so that they too can be configured by udev. This is usually done by:
	/sbin/udevadm trigger --type=subsystems
	/sbin/udevadm trigger --type=devices

	- Restarting the daemon never applies any rules to existing devices.

	- New/changed rule files are picked up automatically; there is no daemon
	restart or signal needed.

	Operation:
	- Based on events the kernel sends out on device creation/removal, udev
	creates/removes device nodes in the /dev directory.

	- All kernel events are matched against a set of specified rules, which
	possibly hook into the event processing and load required kernel
	modules to set up devices. For all devices, the kernel exports a major/minor
	number; if needed, udev creates a device node with the default kernel
	name. If specified, udev applies permissions/ownership to the device
	node, creates additional symlinks pointing to the node, and executes
	programs to handle the device.

	- The events udev handles, and the information udev merges into its device
	database, can be accessed with libudev:
	http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/libudev/
	http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/gudev/

	For more details about udev and udev rules, see the udev man pages:
	http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev/

	Please direct any comment/question to the linux-hotplug mailing list at:
	linux-hotplug@vger.kernel.org