README

   1
   2 udev - a userspace implementation of devfs
   3
   4 For more information on the design, and structure of this project, see the
   5 files in the docs/ directory.
   6
   7 To use:
   8
   9 - You must be running a 2.6 version of the Linux kernel.
  10
  11 - Your 2.6 kernel must have had CONFIG_HOTPLUG enabled when it was built.
  12
  13 - Make sure sysfs is mounted at /sys. You can mount it by running:
  14         mount -t sysfs none /sys
  15
  16 - Make sure you have the latest version of the linux-hotplug scripts.  They are
  17   available at linux-hotplug.sf.net or from your local kernel.org mirror at:
  18         kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/
  19   They are required in order for udev to work properly.
  20
  21   If for some reason you do not install the hotplug scripts, you must tell the
  22   kernel to point the hotplug binary at wherever you install udev at.  This can
  23   be done by:
  24         echo "/sbin/udev" > /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug
  25
  26 - Build the project:
  27         make
  28
  29   Note:
  30       There are a number of different flags that you can use when building
  31       udev.  They are as follows:
  32         prefix
  33                 set this to the default root that you want udev to be
  34                 installed into.  This works just like the 'configure --prefix'
  35                 script does.  Default value is ''.  Only override this if you
  36                 really know what you are doing.
  37         USE_KLIBC
  38                 if set to 'true', udev is built and linked against the
  39                 included version of klibc.  Default value is 'false'.
  40         USE_LOG
  41                 if set to 'true', udev will emit messages to the syslog when
  42                 it creates or removes device nodes.  This is helpful to see
  43                 what udev is doing.  This is enabled by default.  Note, if you
  44                 are building udev against klibc it is recommended that you
  45                 disable this option (due to klibc's syslog implementation.)
  46         USE_SELINUX
  47                 if set to 'true', udev will be built with SELinux support
  48                 enabled.  This is disabled by default.
  49         DEBUG
  50                 if set to 'true', debugging messages will be sent to the syslog
  51                 as udev is run.  Default value is 'false'.
  52         KERNEL_DIR
  53                 If this is not set it will default to /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
  54                 This is used if USE_KLIBC=true to find the kernel include
  55                 directory that klibc needs to build against.  This must be set
  56                 if you are not building udev while running a 2.6 kernel.
  57
  58       So, if you want to build udev using klibc with debugging messages, you
  59       would do:
  60         make USE_KLIBC=true DEBUG=true
  61
  62 - Install the project:
  63         make install
  64
  65   This will put the udev binary in /sbin, create the /udev and /etc/udev
  66   directories, and place the udev configuration files in /etc/udev.  You
  67   will probably want to edit the *.rules files to create custom naming
  68   rules.  More info on how the config files are set up are contained in
  69   comments in the files, and is located in the documentation.
  70
  71 - Add and remove devices from the system and marvel as nodes are created
  72   and removed in /udev/ based on the device types.
  73
  74 - If you later get sick of it, uninstall it:
  75         make uninstall
  76
  77
  78 Things are still quite rough, but it should work properly.  If nothing
  79 seems to happen, make sure your build worked properly by running the
  80 udev-test.pl script as root in the test/ subdirectory of the udev source
  81 tree.
  82
  83 Development and documentation help is very much appreciated, see the TODO
  84 file for a list of things left to be done.
  85
  86
  87 Any comment/questions/concerns please let me and the other udev developers
  88 know by sending a message to the linux-hotplug-devel mailing list at:
  89         linux-hotplug-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
  90
  91 greg k-h
  92 greg@kroah.com
  93