udev(7) — Linux manual page

NAME | DESCRIPTION | RULES FILES | SEE ALSO | NOTES | COLOPHON

UDEV(7)                           udev                           UDEV(7)

NAME         top

       udev - Dynamic device management

DESCRIPTION         top

       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.

RULES FILES         top

       The udev rules are read from the files located in the system
       rules directories /usr/lib/udev/rules.d and
       /usr/local/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 under /usr/.
       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-operator-value expressions. Each expression has a distinct
       effect, depending on the key and operator used.

   Operators
       "=="
           Compare for equality. (The specified key has the specified
           value.)

       "!="
           Compare for inequality. (The specified key doesn't have the
           specified value, or the specified key is not present at all.)

       "="
           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.

           Added in version 217.

       ":="
           Assign a value to a key finally; disallow any later changes.

           Added in version 247.

   Values
       Values are written as double quoted strings, such as ("string").
       To include a quotation mark (") in the value, precede it by a
       backslash (\"). Any other occurrences of a backslash followed by
       a character are not unescaped. That is, "\t\n" is treated as four
       characters: backslash, lowercase t, backslash, lowercase n.

       The string can be prefixed with a lowercase e (e"string\n") to
       mark the string as C-style escaped, see Escape sequences in C[1].
       For example, e"string\n" is parsed as 7 characters: 6 lowercase
       letters and a newline. This can be useful for writing special
       characters when a kernel driver requires them.

       Please note that NUL is not allowed in either string variant.

   Keys
       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.

       KERNELS
           Search the devpath upwards for a matching device name.

       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. If the operator is "!=", the token returns true only
           if there is no symlink matched.

       SUBSYSTEM
           Match the subsystem of the event device.

       SUBSYSTEMS
           Search the devpath upwards for a matching device subsystem
           name.

       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.

       DRIVERS
           Search the devpath upwards for a matching device driver name.

       ATTR{filename}
           Match sysfs attribute value of the event device.

           Trailing whitespace in the attribute values is ignored unless
           the specified match value itself contains trailing
           whitespace.

       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.

       SYSCTL{kernel parameter}
           Match a kernel parameter value.

           Added in version 240.

       ENV{key}
           Match against a device property value.

       CONST{key}
           Match against a system-wide constant. Supported keys are:

           "arch"
               System's architecture. See ConditionArchitecture= in
               systemd.unit(5) for possible values.

               Added in version 244.

           "virt"
               System's virtualization environment. See
               systemd-detect-virt(1) for possible values.

               Added in version 244.

           "cvm"
               System's confidential virtualization technology. See
               systemd-detect-virt(1) for possible values.

               Added in version 254.

           Unknown keys will never match.

           Added in version 244.

       TAG
           Match against one of device tags. It can be used once a TAG
           key has been set in one of the preceding rules. There may be
           multiple tags; only one needs to match. If the operator is
           "!=", the token returns true only if there is no tag matched.

       TAGS
           Search the devpath upwards for a device with matching tag. If
           the operator is "!=", the token returns true only if there is
           no tag matched.

       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.

           Note that multiple PROGRAM keys may be specified in one rule,
           and "=", ":=", and "+=" have the same effect as "==".

       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*".

           Added in version 217.

       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.

           Added in version 209.

       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.

           Added in version 220.

       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}
           Specify a program to be executed after processing of all the
           rules for the event. With "+=", this invocation is added to
           the list, and with "=" or ":=", it replaces any previous
           contents of the list. Please note that both "program" and
           "builtin" types described below share a common list, so
           clearing the list with ":=" and "=" affects both types.

           type may be:

           "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.

               Added in version 199.

           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.

           Note that running programs that access the network or
           mount/unmount filesystems is not allowed inside of udev
           rules, due to the default sandbox that is enforced on
           systemd-udevd.service.

           Starting daemons or other long-running processes is not
           allowed; the forked processes, detached or not, will be
           unconditionally killed after the event handling has finished.
           In order to activate long-running processes from udev rules,
           provide a service unit and pull it in from a udev device
           using the SYSTEMD_WANTS device property. See
           systemd.device(5) for details.

       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.

               Added in version 199.

           "builtin"
               Similar to "program", but use one of the built-in
               programs rather than an external one.

               Added in version 199.

           "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.

           Note that multiple IMPORT{} keys may be specified in one
           rule, and "=", ":=", and "+=" have the same effect as "==".
           The key is true if the import is successful, unless "!=" is
           used as the operator which causes the key to be true if the
           import failed.

       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
               When "replace", possibly unsafe characters in strings
               assigned to NAME, SYMLINK, and ENV{key} are replaced.
               When "none", no replacement is performed. When unset, the
               replacement is performed for NAME, SYMLINK, but not for
               ENV{key}. Defaults to unset.

           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.

           db_persist
               Set the flag (sticky bit) on the udev database entry of
               the event device. Device properties are then kept in the
               database even when udevadm info --cleanup-db is called.
               This option can be useful in certain cases (e.g. Device
               Mapper devices) for persisting device state on the
               transition from initrd.

               Added in version 241.

           log_level=level
               Takes a log level name like "debug" or "info", or a
               special value "reset". When a log level name is
               specified, the maximum log level is changed to that
               level. When "reset" is set, then the previously specified
               log level is revoked. Defaults to the log level of the
               main process of systemd-udevd.

               This may be useful when debugging events for certain
               devices. Note that the log level is applied when the line
               including this rule is processed. So, for debugging, it
               is recommended that this is specified at earlier place,
               e.g., the first line of 00-debug.rules.

               Example for debugging uevent processing for network
               interfaces:

                   # /etc/udev/rules.d/00-debug-net.rules
                   SUBSYSTEM=="net", OPTIONS="log_level=debug"

               Added in version 248.

       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.

SEE ALSO         top

       systemd-udevd.service(8), udevadm(8), systemd.link(5)

NOTES         top

        1. Escape sequences in C
           https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_sequences_in_C#Table_of_escape_sequences

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service
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       ⟨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 2023-12-22.  (At that
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systemd 255                                                      UDEV(7)

Pages that refer to this page: udev_device_has_tag(3)nfsrahead(5)sysctl.d(5)sysfs(5)systemd.device(5)systemd.link(5)udev.conf(5)systemd.directives(7)systemd.index(7)systemd.net-naming-scheme(7)dmsetup(8)modprobe(8)systemd-udevd.service(8)systemd-udev-settle.service(8)udevadm(8)