Category:Device Manager

A device manager is a program that manages device nodes in the /dev directory. It is responsible for things hot-plugging devices such as usb-sticks.

Alpine linux has several device managers available:

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

Do I need a device manager?

This material is work-in-progress ... this needs to be tested on actual hardware (Last edited by Sertonix on 22 Sep 2023.)

In general a device manager is recommended unless you know what you are doing. A device manager is needed if the devices (like disk or keyboard) change after the system is booted. If this is not needed at all you might consider removing the device manager.

Device files can also be manually added using mknod. See man 1 mknod and man 8 partprobe.

See Also

• libudev replacement