DEVFSADM(8) Maintenance Procedures DEVFSADM(8)

NAME

devfsadm, devfsadmd - administration command for /dev

SYNOPSIS

/usr/sbin/devfsadm [-C] [-c device_class] [-i driver_name]
[ -n] [-r root_dir] [-s] [-t table_file] [-v]


/usr/lib/devfsadm/devfsadmd

DESCRIPTION

devfsadm(8) maintains the /dev namespace. It replaces the previous suite
of devfs administration tools including drvconfig(8), disks(8), tapes(8),
ports(8), audlinks(8), and devlinks(8).


The default operation is to attempt to load every driver in the system
and attach to all possible device instances. Next, devfsadm creates
logical links to device nodes in /dev and /devices and loads the device
policy.


devfsadmd(8) is the daemon version of devfsadm(8). The daemon is started
during system startup and is responsible for handling both
reconfiguration boot processing and updating /dev and /devices in
response to dynamic reconfiguration event notifications from the kernel.


For compatibility purposes, drvconfig(8), disks(8), tapes(8), ports(8),
audlinks(8), and devlinks(8) are implemented as links to devfsadm.


In addition to managing /dev, devfsadm also maintains the path_to_inst(5)
database.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-C
Cleanup mode. Prompt devfsadm to cleanup dangling /dev
links that are not normally removed. If the -c option
is also used, devfsadm only cleans up for the listed
devices' classes.


-c device_class
Restrict operations to devices of class device_class.
Solaris defines the following values for device_class:
disk, tape, port, audio, and pseudo. This option might
be specified more than once to specify multiple device
classes.


-i driver_name
Configure only the devices for the named driver,
driver_name.


-n
Do not attempt to load drivers or add new nodes to the
kernel device tree.


-s
Suppress any changes to /dev. This is useful with the
-v option for debugging.


-t table_file
Read an alternate devlink.tab file. devfsadm normally
reads /etc/devlink.tab.


-r root_dir
Presume that the /dev directory trees are found under
root_dir, not directly under root (/). No other use or
assumptions are made about root_dir.


-v
Print changes to /dev in verbose mode.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion.


1
An error occurred.

FILES

/devices

device nodes directory


/dev

logical symbolic links to /devices


/usr/lib/devfsadm/devfsadmd

devfsadm daemon


/dev/.devfsadm_dev.lock

update lock file


/dev/.devfsadm_daemon.lock

daemon lock file


/etc/security/device_policy

device policy file


/etc/security/extra_privs

additional device privileges

SEE ALSO

svcs(1), devfs(4FS), path_to_inst(5), attributes(7), privileges(7),
smf(7), add_drv(8), modinfo(8), modload(8), modunload(8), rem_drv(8),
svcadm(8), tapes(8)

NOTES

This document does not constitute an API. The /devices directory might
not exist or might have different contents or interpretations in a future
release. The existence of this notice does not imply that any other
documentation that lacks this notice constitutes an API.


devfsadm no longer manages the /devices name space. See devfs(4FS).


The device configuration service is managed by the service management
facility, smf(7), under the service identifier, and can be used to start
devfsadm during reconfiguration boot by:

svc:/system/device/local:default


Otherwise, devfsadm is started by:

svc:/system/sysevent:default


Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or
requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(8). The service's
status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.


June 23, 2008 DEVFSADM(8)