udev — Linux dynamic device management

Description
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 udevd(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 information 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 are provided by the library libudev.

Configuration
udev configuration files are placed in /etc/udev/ and /lib/udev/. All empty lines, or lines beginning with
'#' will be ignored.

Configuration file
udev expects its main configuration file at /etc/udev/udev.conf. It consists of a set of variables allowing
the user to override default udev values. The following variables can be set:
udev_root

Specifies where to place the device nodes in the filesystem. The default value is /dev.

udev_log

The logging priority. Valid values are the numerical syslog priorities or their textual
representations: err, info and debug.

Rules files
The udev rules are read from the files located in the default rules directory /lib/udev/rules.d/, the
custom rules directory /etc/udev/rules.d/ and the temporary rules directory /run/udev/rules.d/. All rule
files are sorted and processed in lexical order, regardless in which of these directories they live. Files in
/etc/udev/rules.d/ have precedence over files with the same name in /lib/udev/rules.d/. This can be used
to ignore a default rules file if needed.
Rule files must end in .rules, other extensions are ignored.
Every line in the rules file contains at least one key value pair. There are two kind of keys, match and
assignment keys. If all match keys are matching against its value, the rule gets applied and the assign
keys get the specified value 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 list of one or more key value pairs separated by a comma. 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.

:=

Assign a value to a key finally; disallow any later changes, which may be used to prevent
changes by any later rules.

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 the node or 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 for devices which are bound to a driver at the
time the event is generated.

ATTR{filename}

Match sysfs attribute values of the event device. Trailing whitespace in the attribute values is
ignored, if the specified match value does not contain trailing whitespace itself.

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, if the specified match value does not contain trailing whitespace itself.

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. 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 output printed to
stdout, is available in the RESULT key.

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 a shell style pattern matching. The following pattern characters are
supported:
*

Matches zero, or any number of 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 within this match with the
'-' character. For example, to match on the range of all digits, the pattern [0-9] would be used. If
the first character following the '[' is a '!', any characters not enclosed are matched.

The following keys can get values assigned:

NAME

The name, a network interface should be renamed to. Or as a temporary workaround, the name a
device node should be named. Usually the kernel provides the defined node name, or even creates
and removes the node before udev even receives any event. Changing the node name from the
kernel's default creates inconsistencies and is not supported. If the kernel and NAME specify
different names, an error will be logged. Udev is only expected to handle device node
permissions and to create additional symlinks, not to change kernel-provided device node names.
Instead of renaming a device node, SYMLINK should be used. Symlink names must never
conflict with device node names, it will result in unpredictable behavior.

SYMLINK

The name of a symlink targeting the node. Every matching rule will add this value to the list of
symlinks to be created. Multiple symlinks may be specified by separating the names by the space
character. In case multiple devices claim the same name, the link will always point to the device
with the highest link_priority. If the current device goes away, the links will be re-evaluated and
the device with the next highest link_priority will own the link. If no link_priority is specified,
 the order of the devices, and which one of them will own the link, is undefined. Claiming the
same name for a symlink, which is or might be used for a device node, may result in unexpected
behavior and is not supported.

OWNER, GROUP, MODE

The permissions for the device node. Every specified value overwrites the compiled-in default
value.

ATTR{key}

The value that should be written to a sysfs attribute of the event device.

ENV{key}

Set a device property value. Property names with a leading '.' are not stored in the database or
exported to external tool or events.

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

Add a program to the list of programs to be executed for a specific device. This can only be used
for very short running tasks. Running an event process for a long period of time may block all
further events for this or a dependent device. Long running tasks need to be immediately
detached from the event process itself.

If no absolute path is given, the program is expected to live in /lib/udev, otherwise the absolute
path must be specified. Program name and arguments are separated by spaces. Single quotes can
be used to specify arguments with spaces.

LABEL

Named label where a GOTO can jump to.

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 import its output, which
must be in environment key format. Path specification, command/argument separation, and
quoting work like in RUN.

file

Import a text file specified as the assigned value, 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 commandline. For simple flags the value of the
property will be 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-style pattern matching used for comparisons).

If no option is given, udev will choose between program and file based on the executable bit of
the file permissions.

WAIT_FOR

Wait for a file to become available or until a 10 seconds timeout expires. The path is relative to
the sysfs device, i. e. if no path is specified this waits for an attribute to appear.

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.

event_timeout=

Number of seconds an event will wait for operations to finish, before it will terminate itself.

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 a static device node with the specified name.
Static device nodes might be provided by kernel modules, or copied from /lib/udev/devices.
These nodes might not have a corresponding kernel device at the time udevd is started, and
allow to trigger automatic kernel module on-demand loading.

watch

Watch the device node with inotify, when closed after being opened for writing, a change
uevent will be synthesised.

nowatch

Disable the watching of a device node with inotify.

The NAME, SYMLINK, PROGRAM, OWNER, GROUP, MODE and RUN fields support simple
printf-like string substitutions. The RUN format chars gets applied after all rules have been processed,
right before the program is executed. It allows the use of device properties set by earlier matching
rules. For all other fields, substitutions are applied 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 of '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, use the attribute from that parent device. 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 '+' char 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 node. If not changed by a rule, it is the name of the kernel device.

$links

The current list of symlinks, separated by a space character. The value is only set if an earlier rule
assigned a value, or during a remove events.

$root, %r

The udev_root value.

$sys, %S

The sysfs mount point.

$tempnode, %N

The name of a created temporary device node to provide access to the device from a external
program before the real node is created.

%%

The '%' character itself.

$$

The '$' character itself.

udevadm — udev management tool

Synopsis
udevadm [--debug] [--version] [--help]
udevadm info options
udevadm trigger [options]
udevadm settle [options]
udevadm control command
udevadm monitor [options]
udevadm test [options] devpath

Description
udevadm expects a command and command specific options. It controls the runtime behavior of udev,
requests kernel events, manages the event queue, and provides simple debugging mechanisms.

OPTIONS
--debug

Print debug messages to stderr.

--version

Print version number.

--help

Print help text.

udevadm info options
Queries the udev database for device information stored in the udev database. It can also query the
properties of a device from its sysfs representation to help creating udev rules that match this device.
--query=type

Query the database for specified type of device data. It needs the --path or --name to identify the
specified device. Valid queries are: name, symlink, path, property, all.

--path=devpath

The devpath of the device to query.

--name=file

The name of the device node or a symlink to query

--root

The udev root directory: /dev. If used in conjunction with a name or symlink query, the query
returns the absolute path including the root directory.

--run

The udev runtime directory: /run/udev.

--attribute-walk

Print all sysfs properties of the specified device that can be used in udev rules to match the
specified device. It prints all devices along the chain, up to the root of sysfs that can be used in
udev rules.

--export

Print output as key/value pairs. Values are enclosed in single quotes.

--export-prefix=name

Add a prefix to the key name of exported values.

--device-id-of-file=file

Print major/minor numbers of the underlying device, where the file lives on.

--export-db

Export the content of the udev database.

--cleanup-db

Cleanup the udev database.

--version

Print version.

--help

Print help text.

udevadm trigger [options]

Request device events from the kernel. Primarily used to replay events at system coldplug time.
--verbose

Print the list of devices which will be triggered.

--dry-run

Do not actually trigger the event.

--type=type

Trigger a specific type of devices. Valid types are: devices, subsystems. The default value is
devices.

--action=action

Type of event to be triggered. The default value is change.

--subsystem-match=subsystem

Trigger events for devices which belong to a matching subsystem. This option can be specified
multiple times and supports shell style pattern matching.

--subsystem-nomatch=subsystem

Do not trigger events for devices which belong to a matching subsystem. This option can be
specified multiple times and supports shell style pattern matching.

--attr-match=attribute=value

Trigger events for devices with a matching sysfs attribute. If a value is specified along with the
attribute name, the content of the attribute is matched against the given value using shell style
pattern matching. If no value is specified, the existence of the sysfs attribute is checked. This
 option can be specified multiple times.

--attr-nomatch=attribute=value

Do not trigger events for devices with a matching sysfs attribute. If a value is specified along
with the attribute name, the content of the attribute is matched against the given value using shell
style pattern matching. If no value is specified, the existence of the sysfs attribute is checked.
This option can be specified multiple times.

--property-match=property=value

Trigger events for devices with a matching property value. This option can be specified multiple
times and supports shell style pattern matching.

--tag-match=property

Trigger events for devices with a matching tag. This option can be specified multiple times.

--sysname-match=name

Trigger events for devices with a matching sys device name. This option can be specified
multiple times and supports shell style pattern matching.

udevadm settle [options]

Watches the udev event queue, and exits if all current events are handled.
--timeout=seconds

Maximum number of seconds to wait for the event queue to become empty. The default value is
180 seconds. A value of 0 will check if the queue is empty and always return immediately.

--seq-start=seqnum

Wait only for events after the given sequence number.

--seq-end=seqnum

Wait only for events before the given sequence number.

--exit-if-exists=file

Stop waiting if file exists.

--quiet

Do not print any output, like the remaining queue entries when reaching the timeout.
--help

Print help text.

udevadm control command

Modify the internal state of the running udev daemon.
--exit

Signal and wait for udevd to exit.

--log-priority=value

Set the internal log level of udevd. Valid values are the numerical syslog priorities or their textual
representations: err, info and debug.

--stop-exec-queue

Signal udevd to stop executing new events. Incoming events will be queued.

--start-exec-queue

Signal udevd to enable the execution of events.

--reload-rules

Signal udevd to reload the rules files. The udev daemon detects changes automatically, this option
is usually not needed. Reloading rules does not apply any changes to already existing devices.

--property=KEY=value

Set a global property for all events.

--children-max=value

Set the maximum number of events, udevd will handle at the same time.

--timeout=seconds

The maximum number seonds to wait for a reply from udevd.

--help

Print help text.

udevadm monitor [options]
Listens to the kernel uevents and events sent out by a udev rule and prints the devpath of the event to
the console. It can be used to analyze the event timing, by comparing the timestamps of the kernel
uevent and the udev event.
--kernel

Print the kernel uevents.

--udev

Print the udev event after the rule processing.

--property

Also print the properties of the event.

--subsystem-match=string[/string]

Filter events by subsystem[/devtype]. Only udev events with a matching subsystem value will
pass.

--tag-match=string

Filter events by property. Only udev events with a given tag attached will pass.

--help

Print help text.

udevadm test [options] devpath

Simulate a udev event run for the given device, and print debug output.
--action=string

The action string.

--subsystem=string

The subsystem string.

--help

Print help text.

udevd — event managing daemon

Synopsis
udevd [--daemon] [--debug] [--children-max=] [--exec-delay=] [--resolve-names=early|late|never] [--
version] [--help]

Description
udevd listens to kernel uevents. For every event, udevd executes matching instructions specified in
udev rules. See udev(7).
On startup the content of the directory /lib/udev/devices is copied to /dev. If kernel modules specify
static device nodes, these nodes are created even without a corresponding kernel device, to allow on-
demand loading of kernel modules. Matching permissions specified in udev rules are applied to these
static device nodes.
The behavior of the running daemon can be changed with udevadm control.

Options
--daemon

Detach and run in the background.

--debug

Print debug messages to stderr.

--children-max=

Limit the number of parallel executed events.

--exec-delay=

Number of seconds to delay the execution of RUN instructions. This might be useful when
debugging system crashes during coldplug cause by loading non-working kernel modules.

--resolve-names=

Specify when udevd should resolve names of users and groups. When set to early (the default)
names will be resolved when the rules are parsed. When set to late names will be resolved for
every event. When set to never names will never be resolved and all devices will be owned by
root.

--version

Print version number.

--help

Print help text.

Environment
UDEV_LOG=

Set the logging priority.

Kernel command line

udev.log-priority=

Set the logging priority.

udev.children-max=

Limit the number of parallel executed events.

udev.exec-delay=

Number of seconds to delay the execution of RUN instructions. This might be useful when
debugging system crashes during coldplug cause by loading non-working kernel modules.