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1<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*- Mode: nxml; nxml-child-indent: 2; indent-tabs-mode: nil -*-->
2<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/xhtml/docbook.xsl"?>
3<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
4  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
5
6<refentry id="udev">
7  <refentryinfo>
8    <title>udev</title>
9    <productname>udev</productname>
10    <authorgroup>
11      <author>
12        <contrib>Developer</contrib>
13        <firstname>Greg</firstname>
14        <surname>Kroah-Hartmann</surname>
15        <email>greg@kroah.com</email>
16      </author>
17      <author>
18        <contrib>Developer</contrib>
19        <firstname>Kay</firstname>
20        <surname>Sievers</surname>
21        <email>kay@vrfy.org</email>
22      </author>
23    </authorgroup>
24  </refentryinfo>
25
26  <refmeta>
27    <refentrytitle>udev</refentrytitle>
28    <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
29  </refmeta>
30
31  <refnamediv>
32    <refname>udev</refname>
33    <refpurpose>Dynamic device management</refpurpose>
34  </refnamediv>
35
36  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
37    <para>udev supplies the system software with device events, manages permissions
38    of device nodes and may create additional symlinks in the <filename>/dev</filename>
39    directory, or renames network interfaces. The kernel usually just assigns unpredictable
40    device names based on the order of discovery. Meaningful symlinks or network device
41    names provide a way to reliably identify devices based on their properties or
42    current configuration.</para>
43
44    <para>The udev daemon, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>udevd</refentrytitle>
45    <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, receives device uevents directly from
46    the kernel whenever a device is added or removed from the system, or it changes its
47    state. When udev receives a device event, it matches its configured set of rules
48    against various device attributes to identify the device. Rules that match may
49    provide additional device information to be stored in the udev database or
50    to be used to create meaningful symlink names.</para>
51
52    <para>All device information udev processes is stored in the udev database and
53    sent out to possible event subscribers. Access to all stored data and the event
54    sources is provided by the library libudev.</para>
55  </refsect1>
56
57  <refsect1><title>Rules Files</title>
58      <para>The udev rules are read from the files located in the
59      system rules directory <filename>/lib/udev/rules.d</filename>,
60      the volatile runtime directory <filename>/run/udev/rules.d</filename>
61      and the local administration directory <filename>/etc/udev/rules.d</filename>.
62      All rules files are collectively sorted and processed in lexical order,
63      regardless of the directories in which they live. However, files with
64      identical filenames replace each other. Files in <filename>/etc</filename>
65      have the highest priority, files in <filename>/run</filename> take precedence
66      over files with the same name in <filename>/lib</filename>. This can be
67      used to override a system-supplied rules file with a local file if needed;
68      a symlink in <filename>/etc</filename> with the same name as a rules file in
69      <filename>/lib</filename>, pointing to <filename>/dev/null</filename>,
70      disables the rules file entirely. Rule files must have the extension
71      <filename>.rules</filename>; other extensions are ignored.</para>
72
73      <para>Every line in the rules file contains at least one key-value pair.
74      Except for empty lines or lines beginning with <literal>#</literal>, which are ignored.
75      There are two kinds of keys: match and assignment.
76      If all match keys match against their values, the rule gets applied and the
77      assignment keys get the specified values assigned.</para>
78
79      <para>A matching rule may rename a network interface, add symlinks
80      pointing to the device node, or run a specified program as part of
81      the event handling.</para>
82
83      <para>A rule consists of a comma-separated list of one or more key-value pairs.
84      Each key has a distinct operation, depending on the used operator. Valid
85      operators are:</para>
86      <variablelist>
87        <varlistentry>
88          <term><literal>==</literal></term>
89          <listitem>
90            <para>Compare for equality.</para>
91          </listitem>
92        </varlistentry>
93
94        <varlistentry>
95          <term><literal>!=</literal></term>
96          <listitem>
97            <para>Compare for inequality.</para>
98          </listitem>
99        </varlistentry>
100
101        <varlistentry>
102          <term><literal>=</literal></term>
103          <listitem>
104            <para>Assign a value to a key. Keys that represent a list are reset
105            and only this single value is assigned.</para>
106          </listitem>
107        </varlistentry>
108
109        <varlistentry>
110          <term><literal>+=</literal></term>
111          <listitem>
112            <para>Add the value to a key that holds a list of entries.</para>
113          </listitem>
114        </varlistentry>
115
116        <varlistentry>
117          <term><literal>-=</literal></term>
118          <listitem>
119            <para>Remove the value from a key that holds a list of entries.</para>
120          </listitem>
121        </varlistentry>
122
123        <varlistentry>
124          <term><literal>:=</literal></term>
125          <listitem>
126            <para>Assign  a  value  to  a key finally; disallow any later changes.</para>
127          </listitem>
128        </varlistentry>
129      </variablelist>
130
131      <para>The following key names can be used to match against device properties.
132      Some of the keys also match against properties of the parent devices in sysfs,
133      not only the device that has generated the event. If multiple keys that match
134      a parent device are specified in a single rule, all these keys must match at
135      one and the same parent device.</para>
136      <variablelist class='udev-directives'>
137        <varlistentry>
138          <term><varname>ACTION</varname></term>
139          <listitem>
140            <para>Match the name of the event action.</para>
141          </listitem>
142        </varlistentry>
143
144        <varlistentry>
145          <term><varname>DEVPATH</varname></term>
146          <listitem>
147            <para>Match the devpath of the event device.</para>
148          </listitem>
149        </varlistentry>
150
151        <varlistentry>
152          <term><varname>KERNEL</varname></term>
153          <listitem>
154            <para>Match the name of the event device.</para>
155          </listitem>
156        </varlistentry>
157
158        <varlistentry>
159          <term><varname>NAME</varname></term>
160          <listitem>
161            <para>Match the name of a network interface. It can be used once the
162            NAME key has been set in one of the preceding rules.</para>
163          </listitem>
164        </varlistentry>
165
166        <varlistentry>
167          <term><varname>SYMLINK</varname></term>
168          <listitem>
169            <para>Match the name of a symlink targeting the node. It can
170            be used once a SYMLINK key has been set in one of the preceding
171            rules. There may be multiple symlinks; only one needs to match.
172            </para>
173          </listitem>
174        </varlistentry>
175
176        <varlistentry>
177          <term><varname>SUBSYSTEM</varname></term>
178          <listitem>
179            <para>Match the subsystem of the event device.</para>
180          </listitem>
181        </varlistentry>
182        <varlistentry>
183          <term><varname>DRIVER</varname></term>
184          <listitem>
185            <para>Match the driver name of the event device. Only set this key for devices
186            which are bound to a driver at the time the event is generated.</para>
187          </listitem>
188        </varlistentry>
189        <varlistentry>
190          <term><varname>ATTR{<replaceable>filename</replaceable>}</varname></term>
191          <listitem>
192            <para>Match sysfs attribute values of the event device. Trailing
193            whitespace in the attribute values is ignored unless the specified match
194            value itself contains trailing whitespace.
195            </para>
196          </listitem>
197          <term><varname>SYSCTL{<replaceable>kernel parameter</replaceable>}</varname></term>
198          <listitem>
199            <para>Match a kernel parameter value.
200            </para>
201          </listitem>
202        </varlistentry>
203
204        <varlistentry>
205          <term><varname>KERNELS</varname></term>
206          <listitem>
207            <para>Search the devpath upwards for a matching device name.</para>
208          </listitem>
209        </varlistentry>
210
211        <varlistentry>
212          <term><varname>SUBSYSTEMS</varname></term>
213          <listitem>
214            <para>Search the devpath upwards for a matching device subsystem name.</para>
215          </listitem>
216        </varlistentry>
217
218        <varlistentry>
219          <term><varname>DRIVERS</varname></term>
220          <listitem>
221            <para>Search the devpath upwards for a matching device driver name.</para>
222          </listitem>
223        </varlistentry>
224
225        <varlistentry>
226          <term><varname>ATTRS{<replaceable>filename</replaceable>}</varname></term>
227          <listitem>
228            <para>Search the devpath upwards for a device with matching sysfs attribute values.
229            If multiple <varname>ATTRS</varname> matches are specified, all of them
230            must match on the same device. Trailing whitespace in the attribute values is ignored
231            unless the specified match value itself contains trailing whitespace.</para>
232          </listitem>
233        </varlistentry>
234
235        <varlistentry>
236          <term><varname>TAGS</varname></term>
237          <listitem>
238            <para>Search the devpath upwards for a device with matching tag.</para>
239          </listitem>
240        </varlistentry>
241
242        <varlistentry>
243          <term><varname>ENV{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</varname></term>
244          <listitem>
245            <para>Match against a device property value.</para>
246          </listitem>
247        </varlistentry>
248
249        <varlistentry>
250          <term><varname>TAG</varname></term>
251          <listitem>
252            <para>Match against a device tag.</para>
253          </listitem>
254        </varlistentry>
255
256        <varlistentry>
257          <term><varname>TEST{<replaceable>octal mode mask</replaceable>}</varname></term>
258          <listitem>
259            <para>Test the existence of a file. An octal mode mask can be specified
260            if needed.</para>
261          </listitem>
262        </varlistentry>
263
264        <varlistentry>
265          <term><varname>PROGRAM</varname></term>
266          <listitem>
267            <para>Execute a program to determine whether there
268            is a match; the key is true if the program returns
269            successfully. The device properties are made available to the
270            executed program in the environment. The program's standard output
271            is available in the <varname>RESULT</varname> key.</para>
272            <para>This can only be used for very short-running foreground tasks. For details,
273            see <varname>RUN</varname>.</para>
274          </listitem>
275        </varlistentry>
276
277        <varlistentry>
278          <term><varname>RESULT</varname></term>
279          <listitem>
280            <para>Match the returned string of the last <varname>PROGRAM</varname> call.
281            This key can be used in the same or in any later rule after a
282            <varname>PROGRAM</varname> call.</para>
283          </listitem>
284        </varlistentry>
285      </variablelist>
286
287      <para>Most of the fields support shell glob pattern matching and
288      alternate patterns. The following special characters are supported:</para>
289      <variablelist>
290        <varlistentry>
291          <term><literal>*</literal></term>
292          <listitem>
293            <para>Matches zero or more characters.</para>
294          </listitem>
295        </varlistentry>
296        <varlistentry>
297          <term><literal>?</literal></term>
298          <listitem>
299            <para>Matches any single character.</para>
300          </listitem>
301        </varlistentry>
302        <varlistentry>
303          <term><literal>[]</literal></term>
304          <listitem>
305            <para>Matches any single character specified within the brackets. For
306            example, the pattern string <literal>tty[SR]</literal>
307            would match either <literal>ttyS</literal> or <literal>ttyR</literal>.
308            Ranges are also supported via the <literal>-</literal> character.
309            For example, to match on the range of all digits, the pattern
310            <literal>[0-9]</literal> could be used. If the first character
311            following the <literal>[</literal> is a <literal>!</literal>,
312            any characters not enclosed are matched.</para>
313          </listitem>
314        </varlistentry>
315        <varlistentry>
316          <term><literal>|</literal></term>
317          <listitem>
318            <para>Separates alternative patterns. For example, the pattern string
319            <literal>abc|x*</literal> would match either <literal>abc</literal>
320            or <literal>x*</literal>.</para>
321          </listitem>
322        </varlistentry>
323      </variablelist>
324
325      <para>The following keys can get values assigned:</para>
326      <variablelist class='udev-directives'>
327        <varlistentry>
328          <term><varname>NAME</varname></term>
329          <listitem>
330            <para>The name to use for a network interface. The name of a device node
331            cannot be changed by udev, only additional symlinks can be created.</para>
332          </listitem>
333        </varlistentry>
334
335        <varlistentry>
336          <term><varname>SYMLINK</varname></term>
337          <listitem>
338            <para>The name of a symlink targeting the node. Every matching rule adds
339            this value to the list of symlinks to be created.</para>
340            <para>The set of characters to name a symlink is limited. Allowed
341            characters are <literal>0-9A-Za-z#+-.:=@_/</literal>, valid UTF-8 character
342            sequences, and <literal>\x00</literal> hex encoding. All other
343            characters are replaced by a <literal>_</literal> character.</para>
344            <para>Multiple symlinks may be specified by separating the names by the
345            space character. In case multiple devices claim the same name, the link
346            always points to the device with the highest link_priority. If the current
347            device goes away, the links are re-evaluated and the device with the
348            next highest link_priority becomes the owner of the link. If no
349            link_priority is specified, the order of the devices (and which one of
350            them owns the link) is undefined.</para>
351            <para>Symlink names must never conflict with the kernel's default device
352            node names, as that would result in unpredictable behavior.
353            </para>
354          </listitem>
355        </varlistentry>
356
357        <varlistentry>
358          <term><varname>OWNER</varname>, <varname>GROUP</varname>, <varname>MODE</varname></term>
359          <listitem>
360            <para>The permissions for the device node. Every specified value overrides
361            the compiled-in default value.</para>
362          </listitem>
363        </varlistentry>
364
365        <varlistentry>
366          <term><varname>SECLABEL{<replaceable>module</replaceable>}</varname></term>
367          <listitem>
368            <para>Applies the specified Linux Security Module label to the device node.</para>
369          </listitem>
370        </varlistentry>
371
372        <varlistentry>
373          <term><varname>ATTR{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</varname></term>
374          <listitem>
375            <para>The value that should be written to a sysfs attribute of the
376            event device.</para>
377          </listitem>
378        </varlistentry>
379
380        <varlistentry>
381          <term><varname>SYSCTL{<replaceable>kernel parameter</replaceable>}</varname></term>
382          <listitem>
383            <para>The value that should be written to kernel parameter.</para>
384          </listitem>
385        </varlistentry>
386
387        <varlistentry>
388          <term><varname>ENV{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</varname></term>
389          <listitem>
390            <para>Set a device property value. Property names with a leading <literal>.</literal>
391            are neither stored in the database nor exported to events or
392            external tools (run by, for example, the <varname>PROGRAM</varname>
393            match key).</para>
394          </listitem>
395        </varlistentry>
396
397        <varlistentry>
398          <term><varname>TAG</varname></term>
399          <listitem>
400            <para>Attach a tag to a device. This is used to filter events for users
401            of libudev's monitor functionality, or to enumerate a group of tagged
402            devices. The implementation can only work efficiently if only a few
403            tags are attached to a device. It is only meant to be used in
404            contexts with specific device filter requirements, and not as a
405            general-purpose flag. Excessive use might result in inefficient event
406            handling.</para>
407          </listitem>
408        </varlistentry>
409
410        <varlistentry>
411          <term><varname>RUN{<replaceable>type</replaceable>}</varname></term>
412          <listitem>
413            <para>Add a program to the list of programs to be executed after
414            processing all the rules for a specific event, depending on
415            <literal>type</literal>:</para>
416            <variablelist>
417              <varlistentry>
418                <term><literal>program</literal></term>
419                <listitem>
420                  <para>Execute an external program specified as the assigned
421                  value. If no absolute path is given, the program is expected
422                  to live in <filename>/lib/udev</filename>, otherwise, the
423                  absolute path must be specified.</para>
424                  <para>This is the default if no <replaceable>type</replaceable>
425                  is specified.</para>
426                </listitem>
427              </varlistentry>
428              <varlistentry>
429                <term><literal>builtin</literal></term>
430                <listitem>
431                  <para>As <varname>program</varname>, but use one of the
432                  built-in programs rather than an external one.</para>
433                </listitem>
434              </varlistentry>
435            </variablelist>
436            <para>The program name and following arguments are separated by spaces.
437            Single quotes can be used to specify arguments with spaces.</para>
438            <para>This can only be used for very short-running foreground tasks. Running an
439            event process for a long period of time may block all further events for
440            this or a dependent device.</para>
441            <para>Starting daemons or other long-running processes is not appropriate
442            for udev; the forked processes, detached or not, will be unconditionally
443            killed after the event handling has finished.</para>
444          </listitem>
445        </varlistentry>
446
447        <varlistentry>
448          <term><varname>LABEL</varname></term>
449          <listitem>
450            <para>A named label to which a <varname>GOTO</varname> may jump.</para>
451          </listitem>
452        </varlistentry>
453
454        <varlistentry>
455          <term><varname>GOTO</varname></term>
456          <listitem>
457            <para>Jumps to the next <varname>LABEL</varname> with a matching name.</para>
458          </listitem>
459        </varlistentry>
460
461        <varlistentry>
462          <term><varname>IMPORT{<replaceable>type</replaceable>}</varname></term>
463          <listitem>
464            <para>Import a set of variables as device properties,
465            depending on <literal>type</literal>:</para>
466            <variablelist>
467              <varlistentry>
468                <term><literal>program</literal></term>
469                <listitem>
470                  <para>Execute an external program specified as the assigned value and
471                  import its output, which must be in environment key
472                  format. Path specification, command/argument separation,
473                  and quoting work like in <varname>RUN</varname>.</para>
474                </listitem>
475              </varlistentry>
476              <varlistentry>
477                <term><literal>builtin</literal></term>
478                <listitem>
479                  <para>Similar to <literal>program</literal>, but use one of the
480                  built-in programs rather than an external one.</para>
481                </listitem>
482              </varlistentry>
483             <varlistentry>
484                <term><literal>file</literal></term>
485                <listitem>
486                  <para>Import a text file specified as the assigned value, the content
487                  of which must be in environment key format.</para>
488                </listitem>
489              </varlistentry>
490              <varlistentry>
491                <term><literal>db</literal></term>
492                <listitem>
493                  <para>Import a single property specified as the assigned value from the
494                  current device database. This works only if the database is already populated
495                  by an earlier event.</para>
496                </listitem>
497              </varlistentry>
498              <varlistentry>
499                <term><literal>cmdline</literal></term>
500                <listitem>
501                  <para>Import a single property from the kernel command line. For simple flags
502                  the value of the property is set to <literal>1</literal>.</para>
503                </listitem>
504              </varlistentry>
505              <varlistentry>
506                <term><literal>parent</literal></term>
507                <listitem>
508                  <para>Import the stored keys from the parent device by reading
509                  the database entry of the parent device. The value assigned to
510                  <option>IMPORT{parent}</option> is used as a filter of key names
511                  to import (with the same shell glob pattern matching used for
512                  comparisons).</para>
513                </listitem>
514              </varlistentry>
515            </variablelist>
516            <para>This can only be used for very short-running foreground tasks. For details
517            see <option>RUN</option>.</para>
518          </listitem>
519        </varlistentry>
520
521        <varlistentry>
522          <term><varname>WAIT_FOR</varname></term>
523          <listitem>
524            <para>Wait for a file to become available or until a timeout of
525            10 seconds expires. The path is relative to the sysfs device;
526            if no path is specified, this waits for an attribute to appear.</para>
527          </listitem>
528        </varlistentry>
529
530        <varlistentry>
531          <term><varname>OPTIONS</varname></term>
532          <listitem>
533            <para>Rule and device options:</para>
534            <variablelist class='udev-directives'>
535              <varlistentry>
536                <term><option>link_priority=<replaceable>value</replaceable></option></term>
537                <listitem>
538                  <para>Specify the priority of the created symlinks. Devices with higher
539                  priorities overwrite existing symlinks of other devices. The default is 0.</para>
540                </listitem>
541              </varlistentry>
542              <varlistentry>
543                <term><option>string_escape=<replaceable>none|replace</replaceable></option></term>
544                <listitem>
545                  <para>Usually control and other possibly unsafe characters are replaced
546                  in strings used for device naming. The mode of replacement can be specified
547                  with this option.</para>
548                </listitem>
549              </varlistentry>
550              <varlistentry>
551                <term><option>static_node=</option></term>
552                <listitem>
553                  <para>Apply the permissions specified in this rule to the
554                  static device node with the specified name.  Static device node
555                  creation can be requested by kernel modules.  These nodes might
556                  not have a corresponding kernel device at the time udevd is started;
557                  they can trigger automatic kernel module loading.</para>
558                </listitem>
559              </varlistentry>
560              <varlistentry>
561                <term><option>watch</option></term>
562                <listitem>
563                  <para>Watch the device node with inotify; when the node is
564                  closed after being opened for writing, a change uevent is
565                  synthesized.</para>
566                </listitem>
567              </varlistentry>
568              <varlistentry>
569                <term><option>nowatch</option></term>
570                <listitem>
571                  <para>Disable the watching of a device node with inotify.</para>
572                </listitem>
573              </varlistentry>
574            </variablelist>
575          </listitem>
576        </varlistentry>
577      </variablelist>
578
579      <para>The <varname>NAME</varname>, <varname>SYMLINK</varname>,
580      <varname>PROGRAM</varname>, <varname>OWNER</varname>,
581      <varname>GROUP</varname>, <varname>MODE</varname>, and
582      <varname>RUN</varname> fields support simple string substitutions.
583      The <varname>RUN</varname> substitutions are performed after all rules
584      have been processed, right before the program is executed, allowing for
585      the use of device properties set by earlier matching rules. For all other
586      fields, substitutions are performed while the individual rule is being
587      processed. The available substitutions are:</para>
588      <variablelist class='udev-directives'>
589        <varlistentry>
590          <term><option>$kernel</option>, <option>%k</option></term>
591          <listitem>
592            <para>The kernel name for this device.</para>
593          </listitem>
594        </varlistentry>
595
596        <varlistentry>
597          <term><option>$number</option>, <option>%n</option></term>
598          <listitem>
599            <para>The kernel number for this device. For example,
600              <literal>sda3</literal> has kernel number <literal>3</literal>.
601            </para>
602          </listitem>
603        </varlistentry>
604
605        <varlistentry>
606          <term><option>$devpath</option>, <option>%p</option></term>
607          <listitem>
608            <para>The devpath of the device.</para>
609          </listitem>
610        </varlistentry>
611
612        <varlistentry>
613          <term><option>$id</option>, <option>%b</option></term>
614          <listitem>
615            <para>The name of the device matched while searching the devpath
616              upwards for <option>SUBSYSTEMS</option>, <option>KERNELS</option>,
617              <option>DRIVERS</option>, and <option>ATTRS</option>.
618            </para>
619          </listitem>
620        </varlistentry>
621
622        <varlistentry>
623          <term><option>$driver</option></term>
624          <listitem>
625            <para>The driver name of the device matched while searching the
626              devpath upwards for <option>SUBSYSTEMS</option>,
627              <option>KERNELS</option>, <option>DRIVERS</option>, and
628              <option>ATTRS</option>.
629            </para>
630          </listitem>
631        </varlistentry>
632
633        <varlistentry>
634          <term><option>$attr{<replaceable>file</replaceable>}</option>, <option>%s{<replaceable>file</replaceable>}</option></term>
635          <listitem>
636            <para>The value of a sysfs attribute found at the device where
637              all keys of the rule have matched. If the matching device does not
638              have such an attribute, and a previous <option>KERNELS</option>,
639              <option>SUBSYSTEMS</option>, <option>DRIVERS</option>, or
640              <option>ATTRS</option> test selected a parent device, then the
641              attribute from that parent device is used.
642            </para>
643            <para>If the attribute is a symlink, the last element of the
644              symlink target is returned as the value.
645            </para>
646          </listitem>
647        </varlistentry>
648
649        <varlistentry>
650          <term><option>$env{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</option>, <option>%E{<replaceable>key</replaceable>}</option></term>
651          <listitem>
652            <para>A device property value.</para>
653          </listitem>
654        </varlistentry>
655
656        <varlistentry>
657          <term><option>$major</option>, <option>%M</option></term>
658          <listitem>
659            <para>The kernel major number for the device.</para>
660          </listitem>
661        </varlistentry>
662
663        <varlistentry>
664          <term><option>$minor</option>, <option>%m</option></term>
665          <listitem>
666            <para>The kernel minor number for the device.</para>
667          </listitem>
668        </varlistentry>
669
670        <varlistentry>
671          <term><option>$result</option>, <option>%c</option></term>
672          <listitem>
673            <para>The string returned by the external program requested with
674            <varname>PROGRAM</varname>.
675            A single part of the string, separated by a space character, may be selected
676            by specifying the part number as an attribute: <literal>%c{N}</literal>.
677            If the number is followed by the <literal>+</literal> character, this part plus all remaining parts
678            of the result string are substituted: <literal>%c{N+}</literal>.</para>
679          </listitem>
680        </varlistentry>
681
682        <varlistentry>
683          <term><option>$parent</option>, <option>%P</option></term>
684          <listitem>
685            <para>The node name of the parent device.</para>
686          </listitem>
687        </varlistentry>
688
689        <varlistentry>
690          <term><option>$name</option></term>
691          <listitem>
692            <para>The current name of the device. If not changed by a rule, it is the
693            name of the kernel device.</para>
694          </listitem>
695        </varlistentry>
696
697        <varlistentry>
698          <term><option>$links</option></term>
699          <listitem>
700            <para>A space-separated list of the current symlinks. The value is
701            only set during a remove event or if an earlier rule assigned a value.</para>
702          </listitem>
703        </varlistentry>
704
705        <varlistentry>
706          <term><option>$sys</option>, <option>%S</option></term>
707          <listitem>
708            <para>The sysfs mount point.</para>
709          </listitem>
710        </varlistentry>
711
712        <varlistentry>
713          <term><option>$devnode</option>, <option>%N</option></term>
714          <listitem>
715            <para>The name of the device node.</para>
716          </listitem>
717        </varlistentry>
718
719        <varlistentry>
720          <term><option>%%</option></term>
721          <listitem>
722          <para>The <literal>%</literal> character itself.</para>
723          </listitem>
724        </varlistentry>
725
726        <varlistentry>
727          <term><option>$$</option></term>
728          <listitem>
729          <para>The <literal>$</literal> character itself.</para>
730          </listitem>
731        </varlistentry>
732      </variablelist>
733  </refsect1>
734
735  <refsect1><title>Hardware Database Files</title>
736      <para>The hwdb files are read from the files located in the
737      system hwdb directory <filename>/usr/lib/udev/hwdb.d</filename>,
738      the volatile runtime directory <filename>/run/udev/hwdb.d</filename>
739      and the local administration directory <filename>/etc/udev/hwdb.d</filename>.
740      All hwdb files are collectively sorted and processed in lexical order,
741      regardless of the directories in which they live. However, files with
742      identical filenames replace each other. Files in <filename>/etc</filename>
743      have the highest priority, files in <filename>/run</filename> take precedence
744      over files with the same name in <filename>/usr/lib</filename>. This can be
745      used to override a system-supplied hwdb file with a local file if needed;
746      a symlink in <filename>/etc</filename> with the same name as a hwdb file in
747      <filename>/usr/lib</filename>, pointing to <filename>/dev/null</filename>,
748      disables the hwdb file entirely. hwdb files must have the extension
749      <filename>.hwdb</filename>; other extensions are ignored.</para>
750
751      <para>The hwdb file contains data records consisting of matches and
752      associated key-value pairs. Every record in the hwdb starts with one or
753      more match string, specifying a shell glob to compare the database
754      lookup string against. Multiple match lines are specified in additional
755      consecutive lines. Every match line is compared indivdually, they are
756      combined by OR. Every match line must start at the first character of
757      the line.</para>
758
759      <para>The match lines are followed by one or more key-value pair lines, which
760      are recognized by a leading space character. The key name and value are separated
761      by <literal>=</literal>. An empty line signifies the end
762      of a record. Lines beginning with <literal>#</literal> are ignored.</para>
763
764      <para>The content of all hwdb files is read by
765      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>udevadm</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
766      and compiled to a binary database located at <filename>/etc/udev/hwdb.bin</filename>,
767      or alternatively <filename>/usr/lib/udev/hwdb.bin</filename> if you want ship the compiled
768      database in an immutable image.
769      During runtime only the binary database is used.</para>
770  </refsect1>
771
772  <refsect1>
773    <title>See Also</title>
774    <para>
775      <citerefentry>
776        <refentrytitle>udevd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
777      </citerefentry>,
778      <citerefentry>
779        <refentrytitle>udevadm</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
780    </citerefentry></para>
781  </refsect1>
782</refentry>
783