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create a document for mdev so people dont have to rtfs

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Mike Frysinger 2007-02-14 13:20:29 +00:00
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docs/mdev.txt Normal file
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-------------
MDEV Primer
-------------
For those of us who know how to use mdev, a primer might seem lame. For
everyone else, mdev is a weird black box that they hear is awesome, but can't
seem to get their head around how it works. Thus, a primer.
-----------
Basic Use
-----------
Mdev has two primary uses: initial population and dynamic updates. Both
require sysfs support in the kernel and have it mounted at /sys. For dynamic
updates, you also need to have hotplugging enabled in your kernel.
Here's a typical code snippet from the init script:
[1] mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
[2] echo /bin/mdev > /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug
[3] mdev -s
Of course, a more "full" setup would entail executing this before the previous
code snippet:
[4] mount -t tmpfs mdev /dev
[5] mkdir /dev/pts
[6] mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts
The simple explanation here is that [1] you need to have /sys mounted before
executing mdev. Then you [2] instruct the kernel to execute /bin/mdev whenever
a device is added or removed so that the device node can be created or
destroyed. Then you [3] seed /dev with all the device nodes that were created
while the system was booting.
For the "full" setup, you want to [4] make sure /dev is a tmpfs filesystem
(assuming you're running out of flash). Then you want to [5] create the
/dev/pts mount point and finally [6] mount the devpts filesystem on it.
-------------
MDEV Config (/etc/mdev.conf)
-------------
Mdev has an optional config file for controlling ownership/permissions of
device nodes if your system needs something more than the default root/root
660 permissions.
The file has the format:
<device regex> <uid>:<gid> <octal permissions>
For example:
hd[a-z][0-9]* 0:3 660
The config file parsing stops at the first matching line. If no line is
matched, then the default of 0:0 660 is used. To set your own default, simply
create your own total match like so:
.* 1:1 777
If you also enable support for executing your own commands, then the file has
the format:
<device regex> <uid>:<gid> <octal permissions> [<@|$|*> <command>]
The special characters have the meaning:
@ Run after creating the device.
$ Run before removing the device.
* Run both after creating and before removing the device.
The command is executed via the system() function (which means you're giving a
command to the shell), so make sure you have a shell installed at /bin/sh.
For your convenience, the shell env var $MDEV is set to the device name. So if
the device 'hdc' was matched, MDEV would be set to "hdc".

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util-linux/Config.in
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@ -269,46 +269,30 @@ config MDEV
bool "mdev"
default n
help
mdev is a mini-udev implementation: call it with -s to populate
/dev from /sys, then "echo /sbin/mdev > /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug" to
have it handle hotplug events afterwards. Device names are taken
from sysfs.
mdev is a mini-udev implementation for dynamically creating device
nodes in the /dev directory.
For more information, please see docs/mdev.txt
config FEATURE_MDEV_CONF
bool "Support /etc/mdev.conf"
default n
depends on MDEV
help
The mdev config file contains lines that look like:
Add support for the mdev config file to control ownership and
permissions of the device nodes.
hd[a-z][0-9]* 0:3 660
That's device name (with regex match), uid:gid, and permissions.
Config file parsing stops on the first matching line. If no config
entry is matched, devices are created with default 0:0 660. (Make
the last line match .* to override this.)
For more information, please see docs/mdev.txt
config FEATURE_MDEV_EXEC
bool "Support command execution at device addition/removal"
default n
depends on FEATURE_MDEV_CONF
help
This adds support for an optional field to /etc/mdev.conf, consisting
of a special character and a command line to run after creating the
corresponding device(s) and before removing, ala:
This adds support for an optional field to /etc/mdev.conf for
executing commands when devices are created/removed.
hdc root:cdrom 660 *ln -s $MDEV cdrom
The $MDEV environment variable is set to the name of the device.
The special characters and their meanings are:
@ Run after creating the device.
$ Run before removing the device.
* Run both after creating and before removing the device.
Commands are executed via system() so you need /bin/sh, meaning you
probably want to select a default shell in the Shells menu.
For more information, please see docs/mdev.txt
config MKSWAP
bool "mkswap"