+.TP
+.B HOMEHOST
+The
+.B homehost
+line gives a default value for the
+.B \-\-homehost=
+option to mdadm. There should normally be only one other word on the line.
+It should either be a host name, or one of the special words
+.BR <system>,
+.B <none>
+and
+.BR <ignore> .
+If
+.B <system>
+is given, then the
+.BR gethostname ( 2 )
+systemcall is used to get the host name. This is the default.
+
+If
+.B <ignore>
+is given, then a flag is set so that when arrays are being
+auto-assembled the checking of the recorded
+.I homehost
+is disabled.
+If
+.B <ignore>
+is given it is also possible to give an explicit name which will be
+used when creating arrays. This is the only case when there can be
+more that one other word on the
+.B HOMEHOST
+line. If there are other words, or other
+.B HOMEHOST
+lines, they are silently ignored.
+
+If
+.B <none>
+is given, then the default of using
+.BR gethostname ( 2 )
+is over-ridden and no homehost name is assumed.
+
+When arrays are created, this host name will be stored in the
+metadata. When arrays are assembled using auto-assembly, arrays which
+do not record the correct homehost name in their metadata will be
+assembled using a "foreign" name. A "foreign" name alway ends with a
+digit string preceded by an underscore to differentiate it
+from any possible local name. e.g.
+.B /dev/md/1_1
+or
+.BR /dev/md/home_0 .
+.TP
+.B AUTO
+A list of names of metadata format can be given, each preceded by a
+plus or minus sign. Also the word
+.I homehost
+is allowed as is
+.I all
+preceded by plus or minus sign.
+.I all
+is usually last.
+
+When
+.I mdadm
+is auto-assembling an array, either via
+.I \-\-assemble
+or
+.I \-\-incremental
+and it finds metadata of a given type, it checks that metadata type
+against those listed in this line. The first match wins, where
+.I all
+matches anything.
+If a match is found that was preceded by a plus sign, the auto
+assembly is allowed. If the match was preceded by a minus sign, the
+auto assembly is disallowed. If no match is found, the auto assembly
+is allowed.
+
+If the metadata indicates that the array was created for
+.I this
+host, and the word
+.I homehost
+appears before any other match, then the array is treated as a valid
+candidate for auto-assembly.
+
+This can be used to disable all auto-assembly (so that only arrays
+explicitly listed in mdadm.conf or on the command line are assembled),
+or to disable assembly of certain metadata types which might be
+handled by other software. It can also be used to disable assembly of
+all foreign arrays - normally such arrays are assembled but given a
+non-deterministic name in
+.BR /dev/md/ .
+
+The known metadata types are
+.BR 0.90 ,
+.BR 1.x ,
+.BR ddf ,
+.BR imsm .
+
+.B AUTO
+should be given at most once. Subsequent lines are silently ignored.
+Thus an earlier config file in a config directory will over-ride
+the setting in a later config file.
+
+.TP
+.B POLICY
+This is used to specify what automatic behavior is allowed on devices
+newly appearing in the system and provides a way of marking spares that can
+be moved to other arrays as well as the migration domains.
+.I Domain
+can be defined through
+.I policy
+line by specifying a domain name for a number of paths from
+.BR /dev/disk/by-path/ .
+A device may belong to several domains. The domain of an array is a union
+of domains of all devices in that array. A spare can be automatically
+moved from one array to another if the set of the destination array's
+.I domains
+contains all the
+.I domains
+of the new disk or if both arrays have the same
+.IR spare-group .
+
+To update hot plug configuration it is necessary to execute
+.B mdadm \-\-udev\-rules
+command after changing the config file
+
+Key words used in the
+.I POLICY
+line and supported values are:
+
+.RS 7
+.TP
+.B domain=
+any arbitrary string
+.TP
+.B metadata=
+0.9 1.x ddf or imsm
+.TP
+.B path=
+file glob matching anything from
+.B /dev/disk/by-path
+.TP
+.B type=
+either
+.B disk
+or
+.BR part .
+.TP
+.B action=
+include, re-add, spare, spare-same-slot, or force-spare
+.TP
+.B auto=
+yes, no, or homehost.
+
+.P
+The
+.I action
+item determines the automatic behavior allowed for devices matching the
+.I path
+and
+.I type
+in the same line. If a device matches several lines with different
+.I actions
+then the most permissive will apply. The ordering of policy lines
+is irrelevant to the end result.
+.TP
+.B include
+allows adding a disk to an array if metadata on that disk matches that array
+.TP
+.B re\-add
+will include the device in the array if it appears to be a current member
+or a member that was recently removed and the array has a
+write-intent-bitmap to allow the
+.B re\-add
+functionality.
+.TP
+.B spare
+as above and additionally: if the device is bare it can
+become a spare if there is any array that it is a candidate for based
+on domains and metadata.
+.TP
+.B spare\-same\-slot
+as above and additionally if given slot was used by an array that went
+degraded recently and the device plugged in has no metadata then it will
+be automatically added to that array (or it's container)
+.TP
+.B force\-spare
+as above and the disk will become a spare in remaining cases
+.RE