|
NAME | DESCRIPTION | RULES FILES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
UDEV(7) udev UDEV(7)
udev - Dynamic device management
udev supplies the system software with device events, manages
permissions of device nodes and may create additional symlinks in the
/dev directory, or renames network interfaces. The kernel usually
just assigns unpredictable device names based on the order of
discovery. Meaningful symlinks or network device names provide a way
to reliably identify devices based on their properties or current
configuration.
The udev daemon, systemd-udevd.service(8), receives device uevents
directly from the kernel whenever a device is added or removed from
the system, or it changes its state. When udev receives a device
event, it matches its configured set of rules against various device
attributes to identify the device. Rules that match may provide
additional device information to be stored in the udev database or to
be used to create meaningful symlink names.
All device information udev processes is stored in the udev database
and sent out to possible event subscribers. Access to all stored data
and the event sources is provided by the library libudev.
The udev rules are read from the files located in the system rules
directory /usr/lib/udev/rules.d, the volatile runtime directory
/run/udev/rules.d and the local administration directory
/etc/udev/rules.d. All rules files are collectively sorted and
processed in lexical order, regardless of the directories in which
they live. However, files with identical filenames replace each
other. Files in /etc have the highest priority, files in /run take
precedence over files with the same name in /usr/lib. This can be
used to override a system-supplied rules file with a local file if
needed; a symlink in /etc with the same name as a rules file in
/usr/lib, pointing to /dev/null, disables the rules file entirely.
Rule files must have the extension .rules; other extensions are
ignored.
Every line in the rules file contains at least one key-value pair.
Except for empty lines or lines beginning with "#", which are
ignored. There are two kinds of keys: match and assignment. If all
match keys match against their values, the rule gets applied and the
assignment keys get the specified values assigned.
A matching rule may rename a network interface, add symlinks pointing
to the device node, or run a specified program as part of the event
handling.
A rule consists of a comma-separated list of one or more key-value
pairs. Each key has a distinct operation, depending on the used
operator. Valid operators are:
"=="
Compare for equality.
"!="
Compare for inequality.
"="
Assign a value to a key. Keys that represent a list are reset and
only this single value is assigned.
"+="
Add the value to a key that holds a list of entries.
"-="
Remove the value from a key that holds a list of entries.
":="
Assign a value to a key finally; disallow any later changes.
The following key names can be used to match against device
properties. Some of the keys also match against properties of the
parent devices in sysfs, not only the device that has generated the
event. If multiple keys that match a parent device are specified in a
single rule, all these keys must match at one and the same parent
device.
ACTION
Match the name of the event action.
DEVPATH
Match the devpath of the event device.
KERNEL
Match the name of the event device.
NAME
Match the name of a network interface. It can be used once the
NAME key has been set in one of the preceding rules.
SYMLINK
Match the name of a symlink targeting the node. It can be used
once a SYMLINK key has been set in one of the preceding rules.
There may be multiple symlinks; only one needs to match.
SUBSYSTEM
Match the subsystem of the event device.
DRIVER
Match the driver name of the event device. Only set this key for
devices which are bound to a driver at the time the event is
generated.
ATTR{filename}, SYSCTL{kernel parameter}
Match sysfs attribute values of the event device. Trailing
whitespace in the attribute values is ignored unless the
specified match value itself contains trailing whitespace. Match
a kernel parameter value.
KERNELS
Search the devpath upwards for a matching device name.
SUBSYSTEMS
Search the devpath upwards for a matching device subsystem name.
DRIVERS
Search the devpath upwards for a matching device driver name.
ATTRS{filename}
Search the devpath upwards for a device with matching sysfs
attribute values. If multiple ATTRS matches are specified, all of
them must match on the same device. Trailing whitespace in the
attribute values is ignored unless the specified match value
itself contains trailing whitespace.
TAGS
Search the devpath upwards for a device with matching tag.
ENV{key}
Match against a device property value.
TAG
Match against a device tag.
TEST{octal mode mask}
Test the existence of a file. An octal mode mask can be specified
if needed.
PROGRAM
Execute a program to determine whether there is a match; the key
is true if the program returns successfully. The device
properties are made available to the executed program in the
environment. The program's standard output is available in the
RESULT key.
This can only be used for very short-running foreground tasks.
For details, see RUN.
RESULT
Match the returned string of the last PROGRAM call. This key can
be used in the same or in any later rule after a PROGRAM call.
Most of the fields support shell glob pattern matching and alternate
patterns. The following special characters are supported:
"*"
Matches zero or more characters.
"?"
Matches any single character.
"[]"
Matches any single character specified within the brackets. For
example, the pattern string "tty[SR]" would match either "ttyS"
or "ttyR". Ranges are also supported via the "-" character. For
example, to match on the range of all digits, the pattern "[0-9]"
could be used. If the first character following the "[" is a "!",
any characters not enclosed are matched.
"|"
Separates alternative patterns. For example, the pattern string
"abc|x*" would match either "abc" or "x*".
The following keys can get values assigned:
NAME
The name to use for a network interface. See systemd.link(5) for
a higher-level mechanism for setting the interface name. The name
of a device node cannot be changed by udev, only additional
symlinks can be created.
SYMLINK
The name of a symlink targeting the node. Every matching rule
adds this value to the list of symlinks to be created.
The set of characters to name a symlink is limited. Allowed
characters are "0-9A-Za-z#+-.:=@_/", valid UTF-8 character
sequences, and "\x00" hex encoding. All other characters are
replaced by a "_" character.
Multiple symlinks may be specified by separating the names by the
space character. In case multiple devices claim the same name,
the link always points to the device with the highest
link_priority. If the current device goes away, the links are
re-evaluated and the device with the next highest link_priority
becomes the owner of the link. If no link_priority is specified,
the order of the devices (and which one of them owns the link) is
undefined.
Symlink names must never conflict with the kernel's default
device node names, as that would result in unpredictable
behavior.
OWNER, GROUP, MODE
The permissions for the device node. Every specified value
overrides the compiled-in default value.
SECLABEL{module}
Applies the specified Linux Security Module label to the device
node.
ATTR{key}
The value that should be written to a sysfs attribute of the
event device.
SYSCTL{kernel parameter}
The value that should be written to kernel parameter.
ENV{key}
Set a device property value. Property names with a leading "."
are neither stored in the database nor exported to events or
external tools (run by, for example, the PROGRAM match key).
TAG
Attach a tag to a device. This is used to filter events for users
of libudev's monitor functionality, or to enumerate a group of
tagged devices. The implementation can only work efficiently if
only a few tags are attached to a device. It is only meant to be
used in contexts with specific device filter requirements, and
not as a general-purpose flag. Excessive use might result in
inefficient event handling.
RUN{type}
Add a program to the list of programs to be executed after
processing all the rules for a specific event, depending on
"type":
"program"
Execute an external program specified as the assigned value.
If no absolute path is given, the program is expected to live
in /usr/lib/udev; otherwise, the absolute path must be
specified.
This is the default if no type is specified.
"builtin"
As program, but use one of the built-in programs rather than
an external one.
The program name and following arguments are separated by spaces.
Single quotes can be used to specify arguments with spaces.
This can only be used for very short-running foreground tasks.
Running an event process for a long period of time may block all
further events for this or a dependent device.
Starting daemons or other long-running processes is not
appropriate for udev; the forked processes, detached or not, will
be unconditionally killed after the event handling has finished.
LABEL
A named label to which a GOTO may jump.
GOTO
Jumps to the next LABEL with a matching name.
IMPORT{type}
Import a set of variables as device properties, depending on
"type":
"program"
Execute an external program specified as the assigned value
and, if it returns successfully, import its output, which
must be in environment key format. Path specification,
command/argument separation, and quoting work like in RUN.
"builtin"
Similar to "program", but use one of the built-in programs
rather than an external one.
"file"
Import a text file specified as the assigned value, the
content of which must be in environment key format.
"db"
Import a single property specified as the assigned value from
the current device database. This works only if the database
is already populated by an earlier event.
"cmdline"
Import a single property from the kernel command line. For
simple flags the value of the property is set to "1".
"parent"
Import the stored keys from the parent device by reading the
database entry of the parent device. The value assigned to
IMPORT{parent} is used as a filter of key names to import
(with the same shell glob pattern matching used for
comparisons).
This can only be used for very short-running foreground tasks.
For details see RUN.
OPTIONS
Rule and device options:
link_priority=value
Specify the priority of the created symlinks. Devices with
higher priorities overwrite existing symlinks of other
devices. The default is 0.
string_escape=none|replace
Usually, control and other possibly unsafe characters are
replaced in strings used for device naming. The mode of
replacement can be specified with this option.
static_node=
Apply the permissions specified in this rule to the static
device node with the specified name. Also, for every tag
specified in this rule, create a symlink in the directory
/run/udev/static_node-tags/tag pointing at the static device
node with the specified name. Static device node creation is
performed by systemd-tmpfiles before systemd-udevd is
started. The static nodes might not have a corresponding
kernel device; they are used to trigger automatic kernel
module loading when they are accessed.
watch
Watch the device node with inotify; when the node is closed
after being opened for writing, a change uevent is
synthesized.
nowatch
Disable the watching of a device node with inotify.
The NAME, SYMLINK, PROGRAM, OWNER, GROUP, MODE, SECLABEL, and RUN
fields support simple string substitutions. The RUN substitutions are
performed after all rules have been processed, right before the
program is executed, allowing for the use of device properties set by
earlier matching rules. For all other fields, substitutions are
performed while the individual rule is being processed. The available
substitutions are:
$kernel, %k
The kernel name for this device.
$number, %n
The kernel number for this device. For example, "sda3" has kernel
number "3".
$devpath, %p
The devpath of the device.
$id, %b
The name of the device matched while searching the devpath
upwards for SUBSYSTEMS, KERNELS, DRIVERS, and ATTRS.
$driver
The driver name of the device matched while searching the devpath
upwards for SUBSYSTEMS, KERNELS, DRIVERS, and ATTRS.
$attr{file}, %s{file}
The value of a sysfs attribute found at the device where all keys
of the rule have matched. If the matching device does not have
such an attribute, and a previous KERNELS, SUBSYSTEMS, DRIVERS,
or ATTRS test selected a parent device, then the attribute from
that parent device is used.
If the attribute is a symlink, the last element of the symlink
target is returned as the value.
$env{key}, %E{key}
A device property value.
$major, %M
The kernel major number for the device.
$minor, %m
The kernel minor number for the device.
$result, %c
The string returned by the external program requested with
PROGRAM. A single part of the string, separated by a space
character, may be selected by specifying the part number as an
attribute: "%c{N}". If the number is followed by the "+"
character, this part plus all remaining parts of the result
string are substituted: "%c{N+}".
$parent, %P
The node name of the parent device.
$name
The current name of the device. If not changed by a rule, it is
the name of the kernel device.
$links
A space-separated list of the current symlinks. The value is only
set during a remove event or if an earlier rule assigned a value.
$root, %r
The udev_root value.
$sys, %S
The sysfs mount point.
$devnode, %N
The name of the device node.
%%
The "%" character itself.
$$
The "$" character itself.
systemd-udevd.service(8), udevadm(8), systemd.link(5)
This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service manager)
project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩. If you have a bug
report for this manual page, see
⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩. This
page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2017-07-05. If you dis‐
cover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or
you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail
to man-pages@man7.org
systemd 234 UDEV(7)
Pages that refer to this page: sysctl.d(5), systemd.device(5), udev.conf(5), systemd.directives(7), systemd.index(7), dmsetup(8), lvm2-activation-generator(8), modprobe(8), systemd-udevd.service(8), udevadm(8)