create a document for mdev so people dont have to rtfs

2 files changed, 78 insertions, 26 deletions

diff --git a/docs/mdev.txt b/docs/mdev.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..51c3f0ed1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/mdev.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+-------------
+ MDEV Primer
+-------------
+
+For those of us who know how to use mdev, a primer might seem lame.  For
+everyone else, mdev is a weird black box that they hear is awesome, but can't
+seem to get their head around how it works.  Thus, a primer.
+
+-----------
+ Basic Use
+-----------
+
+Mdev has two primary uses: initial population and dynamic updates.  Both
+require sysfs support in the kernel and have it mounted at /sys.  For dynamic
+updates, you also need to have hotplugging enabled in your kernel.
+
+Here's a typical code snippet from the init script:
+[1] mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
+[2] echo /bin/mdev > /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug
+[3] mdev -s
+
+Of course, a more "full" setup would entail executing this before the previous
+code snippet:
+[4] mount -t tmpfs mdev /dev
+[5] mkdir /dev/pts
+[6] mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts
+
+The simple explanation here is that [1] you need to have /sys mounted before
+executing mdev.  Then you [2] instruct the kernel to execute /bin/mdev whenever
+a device is added or removed so that the device node can be created or
+destroyed.  Then you [3] seed /dev with all the device nodes that were created
+while the system was booting.
+
+For the "full" setup, you want to [4] make sure /dev is a tmpfs filesystem
+(assuming you're running out of flash).  Then you want to [5] create the
+/dev/pts mount point and finally [6] mount the devpts filesystem on it.
+
+-------------
+ MDEV Config   (/etc/mdev.conf)
+-------------
+
+Mdev has an optional config file for controlling ownership/permissions of
+device nodes if your system needs something more than the default root/root
+660 permissions.
+
+The file has the format:
+	<device regex> <uid>:<gid> <octal permissions>
+For example:
+	hd[a-z][0-9]* 0:3 660
+
+The config file parsing stops at the first matching line.  If no line is
+matched, then the default of 0:0 660 is used.  To set your own default, simply
+create your own total match like so:
+	.* 1:1 777
+
+If you also enable support for executing your own commands, then the file has
+the format:
+	<device regex> <uid>:<gid> <octal permissions> [<@|$|*> <command>]
+The special characters have the meaning:
+	@ Run after creating the device.
+	$ Run before removing the device.
+	* Run both after creating and before removing the device.
+
+The command is executed via the system() function (which means you're giving a
+command to the shell), so make sure you have a shell installed at /bin/sh.
+
+For your convenience, the shell env var $MDEV is set to the device name.  So if
+the device 'hdc' was matched, MDEV would be set to "hdc".
diff --git a/util-linux/Config.in b/util-linux/Config.in
index 1f144cae5..2184df153 100644
--- a/util-linux/Config.in
+++ b/util-linux/Config.in
@@ -269,46 +269,30 @@ config MDEV
 	bool "mdev"
 	default n
 	help
-	  mdev is a mini-udev implementation: call it with -s to populate
-	  /dev from /sys, then "echo /sbin/mdev > /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug" to
-	  have it handle hotplug events afterwards.  Device names are taken
-	  from sysfs.
+	  mdev is a mini-udev implementation for dynamically creating device
+	  nodes in the /dev directory.
+
+	  For more information, please see docs/mdev.txt
 
 config FEATURE_MDEV_CONF
 	bool "Support /etc/mdev.conf"
 	default n
 	depends on MDEV
 	help
-	  The mdev config file contains lines that look like:
-
-	    hd[a-z][0-9]* 0:3 660
-
-	  That's device name (with regex match), uid:gid, and permissions.
+	  Add support for the mdev config file to control ownership and
+	  permissions of the device nodes.
 
-	  Config file parsing stops on the first matching line.  If no config
-	  entry is matched, devices are created with default 0:0 660.  (Make
-	  the last line match .* to override this.)
+	  For more information, please see docs/mdev.txt
 
 config FEATURE_MDEV_EXEC
 	bool "Support command execution at device addition/removal"
 	default n
 	depends on FEATURE_MDEV_CONF
 	help
-	  This adds support for an optional field to /etc/mdev.conf, consisting
-	  of a special character and a command line to run after creating the
-	  corresponding device(s) and before removing, ala:
-
-	    hdc root:cdrom 660  *ln -s $MDEV cdrom
-
-	  The $MDEV environment variable is set to the name of the device.
-
-	  The special characters and their meanings are:
-	    @ Run after creating the device.
-	    $ Run before removing the device.
-	    * Run both after creating and before removing the device.
+	  This adds support for an optional field to /etc/mdev.conf for
+	  executing commands when devices are created/removed.
 
-	  Commands are executed via system() so you need /bin/sh, meaning you
-	  probably want to select a default shell in the Shells menu.
+	  For more information, please see docs/mdev.txt
 
 config MKSWAP
 	bool "mkswap"