devd Events Not Triggering Automation Scripts

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Expected scripts do not run when interfaces or devices attach/detach.

Environment & Reproduction

Malformed devd rule syntax, wrong match conditions, or disabled service.

Root Cause Analysis

Verify devd is active with service devd status and check rule parsing.

Quick Triage

Correct obvious syntax errors and restart devd.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Run service devd onestatus and trigger a test event to observe script execution.

Solution – Primary Fix

Inspect /etc/devd.conf and /var/log/messages for parse or permission failures.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use tight match clauses, absolute script paths, and executable permissions for handlers.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Repeat the event and confirm logs show matched rule plus successful script exit.

Rollback Plan

Keep custom devd rules in managed include files with validation checks.

Prevention & Hardening

Re-enable previously known-good devd config and restart service.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Escalate for kernel-level event delivery issues or intermittent hardware buses.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for freebsd-15.

View all freebsd-15 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

service devd restart; devd -d; tail -f /var/log/messages