.\" Copyright (c) 2005 Joerg Anslik <joerg@anslik.de>
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.\" $DragonFly: src/share/man/man5/devices.conf.5,v 1.2 2006/02/17 19:37:10 swildner Exp $
.\"
.\" Note: The date here should be updated whenever a non-trivial
.\" change is made to the manual page.
.Dd March 18, 2005
.Dt DEVICES.CONF 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm devices.conf
.Nd override ownership and permissions for device nodes
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Pa /etc/devices.conf
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
file is used by the MAKEDEV(8) shell script. Normally, MAKEDEV(8) creates any special
file (device node) with reasonable ownership and permissions. To override these default
settings, you can put corresponding entries in your
.Pa devices.conf
file, so MAKEDEV(8) will use these when it creates the special file.
.Pp
This feature comes in handy if you're using (e.g.) tape backup software like
.Pa bacula
in conjunction with a tape autochanger device. In this case, the
.Dq bacula-sd
storage daemon needs read/write access to /dev/pass?, which is not granted by default
when MAKEDEV(8) creates the pass? device node.
.Pp
So, instead of manually changing the permissions of /dev/pass? after each
.Dq make upgrade ,
you can simply put a local override entry into
.Pa devices.conf ,
so the device node will have the new permissions the next time MAKEDEV(8)
creates it.
.Sh FILE FORMAT
The contents of the
.Nm
file is plain ASCII and can be modified with the
text editor of your choice.
Lines with a
.Ql #
in the first column are comments and are ignored, which also holds true
for blank lines.
.Pp
A configuration line consists of up to four fields separated
by whitespace. The first three fields are mandatory, and contain the name of the device
node to be overridden, the ownership in
.Dq owner:group
format and the new file permissions. The fourth field is optional and
reserved for comments (or whatever).
.Pp
Due to the huge number of device nodes that MAKEDEV(8) can create,
the first field (the device node name) may contain the
.Ql *
wildcard character, if the new ownership/permissions should apply to an entire
device family (see EXAMPLES).
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width ".Pa devices.conf"
.It Pa devices.conf
The local device permissions override file lives in
.Pa /etc .
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following is an example of how to set up local overrides for some
device nodes.
.Bd -literal
# Grant read and write permission on /dev/pass0 to the bacula-sd,
# which belongs to the operator group.
pass0	root:operator	660

# Change ownership and permissions for the entire ad0 device family
ad0*	root:man	640

# Grant read and write access to sa* control nodes to everyone
sa*.ctl	root:wheel	666

# Change ownership and permissions for device node "4" in /dev/fd
fd/4	ihate:floppies	000

# Grant mommy write access to my fridge
fridge	mommy:supplies	640	# Will be ignored by MAKEDEV(8)...
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr MAKEDEV 8