Device Manager: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:46, 6 September 2025

A device manager is a program that manages device files in the /dev directory. Permissions and changes in /dev are handled by it.

Alpine linux has several device managers available:

mdev (from busybox) is the default.
mdevd is standalone, compatible with mdev, more efficient.
eudev is a complex, full-featured one.

udev is not available in Alpine Linux, use eudev instead which includes patches to make to work better without other systemd components.

Setting up eudev as device manager on desktop systems is recommended in Alpine Linux. Without a fully functional device manager, users will not be able to connect to input devices. The alpine-conf package provides setup-devd script to easily install and setup device managers.

To set up eudev, issue the command:

# setup-devd udev

Do I need a device manager?

Yes! Even for very specific use cases you would most likely just create a custom device manager.

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-#REDIRECT [[Category:Device Manager]]
+A device manager is a program that manages [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_file device files] in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devfs /dev] directory. Permissions and changes in {{path|/dev}} are handled by it.
+Alpine linux has several device managers available:
+* '''[[mdev]]''' (from {{pkg|busybox}}) is the default.
+* '''[[mdevd]]''' is standalone, compatible with mdev, more efficient.
+* '''[[eudev]]''' is a complex, full-featured one.
+'''udev''' is not available in Alpine Linux, use [[eudev]] instead which includes patches to make to work better without other systemd components.
+{{:Include:Setup Device Manager}}
+== Do I need a device manager? ==
+'''Yes!''' Even for very specific use cases you would most likely just create a custom device manager.
+== See also ==
+* [[Mdev#libudev_replacement|libudev replacement]]
+* [https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Device_file Gentoo Wiki - Device file]
+[[Category:Device Manager]]