configd.tproj/configd.8

   1 .\"
   2 .\"     @(#)configd.8
   3 .\"
   4 .Dd June 18, 2009
   5 .Dt CONFIGD 8
   6 .Os "Mac OS X"
   7 .Sh NAME
   8 .Nm configd
   9 .Nd System Configuration Daemon
  10 .Sh SYNOPSIS
  11 .Nm
  12 .Op Fl bdv
  13 .Op Fl B Ar bundleID
  14 .Op Fl V Ar bundleID
  15 .Op Fl t Ar bundle-path
  16 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  17 The
  18 .Nm
  19 daemon
  20 is responsible for many configuration aspects of the local system.
  21 .Nm
  22 maintains data reflecting the desired and current state of the system,
  23 provides notifications to applications when this data changes,
  24 and hosts a number of configuration agents in the form of loadable
  25 bundles.
  26 .Pp
  27 Each configuration agent is responsible for a well-defined aspect
  28 of configuration management. The agents look to one or more input
  29 sources (preferences, low-level kernel events,
  30 .Nm
  31 notifications, etc) and, through
  32 a set of policy modules, interacts with the system to establish
  33 the desired operational configuration.
  34 .Pp
  35 Access to the data maintained by
  36 .Nm
  37 is via the SystemConfiguration.framework SCDynamicStore APIs.
  38 .Sh OPTIONS
  39 .Pp
  40 The command line options are as follows:
  41 .Bl -tag -width xx
  42 .It Fl b
  43 Don't actually load any bundles.
  44 .It Fl B Ar bundleID
  45 Prevents the loading of the bundle with the specified
  46 .Ar bundleID .
  47 .It Fl d
  48 Run
  49 .Nm
  50 in the foreground without forking.  This is useful for debugging.
  51 .It Fl v
  52 Puts
  53 .Nm
  54 into verbose mode.  Displays debugging information about
  55 bundles as they are being loaded.
  56 .It Fl V Ar bundleID
  57 Turns verbose mode on for the bundle with the specified
  58 .Ar bundleID .
  59 .It Fl t Ar bundle-path
  60 Loads only the bundle specified by
  61 .Ar bundle-path .
  62 .El
  63 .Sh BUNDLES
  64 At the present time, the majority of the configuration agents (or bundles) hosted by
  65 .Nm
  66 are used to establish and maintain the network configuration.
  67 These agents include:
  68 .Pp
  69 .Ss KernelEventMonitor
  70 This bundle is responsible for monitoring kernel events and conveying changes to the network state (e.g. link status) to other configuration agents and interested applications.
  71 .Ss InterfaceNamer
  72 This bundle provides a name to each of the system's network interfaces.  The bundle queries the
  73 IOKit Registry for a list of network devices attached to the system and gives them BSD style names such as
  74 .Qq en0 .
  75 .Ss IPConfiguration
  76 This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining IPv4 addresses on the system.  These addresses may be manually specified in the network preferences or acquired using DHCP (or BOOTP).
  77 .Ss IP6Configuration
  78 This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining IPv6 addresses on the system.
  79 .Ss IPMonitor
  80 This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining the primary network service, the default route, the active DNS configuration, and the active network proxies on the system.
  81 .Ss LinkConfiguration
  82 This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining the media type, media options, and MTU for ethernet interfaces.
  83 .Ss PreferencesMonitor
  84 This agent is responsible for conveying the network configuration preferences specified by the administrator to the various configuration agents (IPv4, IPv6, ...).
  85 .Ss PPPController
  86 This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining PPP connections on the system.
  87 .Sh FILES
  88 .Bl -tag -width xx
  89 .It Pa /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/
  90 Directory of
  91 .Nm
  92 bundles
  93 .It Pa /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
  94 Default directory for system configuration persistent store files.
  95 .Bl -tag -width .../VirtualNetworkInterfaces.plist
  96 .It Pa .../preferences.plist
  97 System configuration
  98 .It Pa .../NetworkInterfaces.plist
  99 Network interface --> BSD interface mappings
 100 .It Pa .../VirtualNetworkInterfaces.plist
 101 Virtual network interface (VLAN) configuration
 102 .El
 103 .El
 104 .Sh ERRORS
 105 Log messages generated by
 106 .Nm
 107 and any configuration agents will are
 108 sent to the system log daemon by
 109 .Xr syslog 3 .
 110 The syslog facility used is LOG_DAEMON.
 111 If the
 112 .Fl d
 113 option is specified, log messages with written to stdout (or stderr if
 114 the priority is greater than LOG_NOTICE).
 115 .Sh SIGNALS
 116 .Nm
 117 was designed to run without any intervention but if you insist on sending a signal to the daemon then the following are available:
 118 .Bl -tag -width SIGTERM
 119 .It Dv SIGHUP
 120 This signal, typically used to tell a daemon to reload its configuration, is ignored (there is no configuration).
 121 .It Dv SIGTERM
 122 This signal initiates a
 123 .Qq graceful
 124 shutdown of the daemon.
 125 .El
 126 .Sh SEE ALSO
 127 ./".Xr SystemConfiguration.framework 3 ,
 128 .Xr scutil 8 ,
 129 .Xr scselect 8
 130 ./".Xr launchd 8
 131 .Sh HISTORY
 132 The
 133 .Nm
 134 daemon appeared in Mac OS X Public Beta.
 135 .Sh NOTES
 136 Unless started with the
 137 .Fl d
 138 option,
 139 .Nm
 140 will register with
 141 .Xr launchd 8
 142 such that the daemon will be restarted in the event of a crash.
 143 This registration will be removed during
 144 .Qq graceful
 145 shutdowns of the daemon.
 146 .Pp
 147 This daemon and its current behavior may change without notice.  Do not rely
 148 on its existence or its behavior.  Consider it an unsupported command.