DEVFS.RULES(5)            FreeBSD File Formats Manual           DEVFS.RULES(5)

NAME
     devfs.rules - devfs configuration information

DESCRIPTION
     The devfs.rules file provides an easy way to create and apply devfs(8)
     rules, even for devices that are not available at boot.

     For devices available at boot, see devfs.conf(5).

     The format of this file is simple.  Empty lines and lines beginning with
     a hash sign (`#') are ignored.  A line between brackets denotes the start
     of a ruleset.  In the brackets should be the name of the ruleset and its
     number, separated by an equal sign.

     Other lines are rule specifications as documented in devfs(8), in the
     section Rule Specification.  These lines are prepended with "rule" and
     are passed to devfs(8) by the startup scripts of the system.  It is
     important to put path elements that contain glob(3) special characters
     between quotes.

     Rulesets should have a unique name and number.

     All rules that follow a ruleset declaration belong to that ruleset, until
     a new ruleset is started.

     One custom ruleset has to be enabled in /etc/rc.conf, otherwise it will
     not be applied to the /dev file system by the default system startup
     process.  For example, to enable a "localrules" ruleset for the /dev file
     system, you would have to use something like this in your rc.conf file:

           devfs_system_ruleset="localrules"

     The rules are loaded at boot via the devfs service.  To load modified
     rules after the system has booted, run the command:

           service devfs restart

FILES
     /etc/defaults/devfs.rules         Default devfs.rules configuration file.
     /etc/devfs.rules                  Local devfs.rules configuration file.
                                       Rulesets in here override those in
                                       /etc/defaults/devfs.rules with the same
                                       ruleset number, otherwise the two files
                                       are effectively merged.

EXAMPLES
     To make all the partitions of da(4) devices readable and writable by
     their owner and the "usb" group, the following rule may be used:

           [localrules=10]
           add path 'da*s*' mode 0660 group usb

     The first line declares and starts a new ruleset, with the name
     localrules and the number 10.

     To give usbconfig(8) and libusb(3) enabled applications permission to all
     usb devices for their owner and the "usb" group, a similar rule may be
     used:

           add path 'usb/*' mode 0660 group usb

SEE ALSO
     glob(3), devfs(5), devfs.conf(5), devfs(8), service(8)

AUTHORS
     This manual page was written by Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl>.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6        December 1, 2020        FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6