summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/biosdevname.1
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'biosdevname.1')
-rw-r--r--biosdevname.153
1 files changed, 48 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/biosdevname.1 b/biosdevname.1
index 7cf4e4d..fd0f99b 100644
--- a/biosdevname.1
+++ b/biosdevname.1
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
.\" First parameter, NAME, should be all caps
.\" Second parameter, SECTION, should be 1-8, maybe w/ subsection
.\" other parameters are allowed: see man(7), man(1)
-.TH BIOSDEVNAME 1 "May 16, 2007"
+.TH BIOSDEVNAME 1 "Nov 28, 2010"
.\" Please adjust this date whenever revising the manpage.
.\"
.\" Some roff macros, for reference:
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ biosdevname \- give BIOS-given name of a device
.B biosdevname
.RI [options]\ [args]...
.SH DESCRIPTION
-biosdevname in its simplest form takes a kernel device name as an
+biosdevname takes a kernel device name as an
argument, and returns the BIOS-given name it "should" be.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
@@ -31,10 +31,53 @@ Treat [args] as ethernet devs
.B \-d, \-\-debug
Enable debugging
.TP
-.B \-n, \-\-nosort
-Don't sort the PCI device list breadth-first
+.B \-\-policy \fI[physical|all_ethN]
.TP
-.B \-\-policy \fI[kernelnames|all_ethN|all_names|embedded_ethN_slots_names]
+.B \-\-prefix \fI[string]
+string use for embedded NICs in the physical policy (default=em)
+.SH POLICIES
+.br
+The
+.B physical
+policy is the current default. However, when invoking biosdevname in
+udev rules, one should always specify the policy you want, as the
+default has changed over time.
+.br
+The
+.B physical
+policy uses the following scheme:
+.TP
+em<port>
+for embedded NICs
+.TP
+pci<slot>#<port>_<virtual instance>
+for cards in PCI slots
+.br
+.TP
+The
+.B all_ethN
+policy makes a best guess at what the device order should be, with
+embedded devices first, PCI cards in ascending slot order, and ports
+in ascending PCI bus/device/function order breadth-first. However,
+this policy
+.I does not work
+if your PCI devices are hot-plugged or hot-pluggable, including the
+virtual functions on an SR-IOV device. In a hot-plug scenario, each separate
+udev instance will be invoked in parallel, while the device tree is
+still being populated with new devices. Each udev instance will see a
+different PCI tree, and thus cannot provide consistent enumeration.
+Use of this policy should be limited to only scenarios where all PCI
+devices are present at boot (cold-plug).
+
+.SH RETURN CODES
+Returns 0 on success, with BIOS-suggested name printed to stdout.
+.br
+Returns 1 on provided device name lookup failure.
+.br
+Returns 2 if system BIOS does not provide naming information.
+biosdevname requires system BIOS to provide naming information, either
+via SMBIOS or sysfs files.
+
.SH SEE ALSO
.br
http://linux.dell.com/files/biosdevname/