README

README for udevil v0.2.5 ALPHA TEST VERSION


THIS RELEASE IS FOR TESTING PURPOSES - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Please test functions carefully before relying on them.


For updates and instructions visit:
    http://ignorantguru.github.com/udevil/
    http://ignorantguru.github.com/udevil/news.html


CONTENTS

    DESCRIPTION
    PACKAGES
    INSTALLER
    BUILD
    BUILD NEXT
    CREATE DEB PACKAGE
    POST INSTALL
        Kernel Polling
        Set SUID
        Networks and Files
        FTP Support
        NTFS-3G
    ENABLE KERNEL POLLING
    UNINSTALL
    TRANSLATIONS
    LICENSE


DESCRIPTION

    Mounts and unmounts optical and removable devices without a password (set
    suid), shows device info, monitors device changes.  Emulates mount's and
    udisks's command line usage and udisks v1's output.  Includes the devmon
    automounting daemon.

    Run 'udevil --help' for usage.  See /etc/udevil/udevil.conf for config.
        http://ignorantguru.github.com/udevil/udevil--help.html
        http://ignorantguru.github.com/udevil/udevil.conf.txt


PACKAGES


    Arch's AUR includes udevil-git:
        https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=59463

    Debian-based deb packages are provided in Downloads:
        (to save a file, click on its filename and click 'View Raw'):
        https://github.com/IgnorantGuru/udevil/tree/master/packages

        and are also available in the author's PPA:
            http://igurublog.wordpress.com/downloads/ppa/

        These convenience deb packages contain the source code and will build
        and install udevil automatically on most Debian-based distros.
        $TMPDIR (usually /tmp) must NOT be mounted noexec for the installation.
        Or see CREATE DEB PACKAGE below to easily build a binary package.

        For signatures and SHA256 sums see
            http://ignorantguru.github.com/udevil/udevil.SHA256.txt

    Other:  See INSTALLER below

    NOTE: See POST INSTALL section below for post-installation steps.


INSTALLER

    A self-extracting installer is available (udevil-x.x.x-installer.sh):
        https://github.com/IgnorantGuru/udevil/tree/master/packages
            (To save a file, click on its filename and click 'View Raw')

    The installer requires the build dependencies listed below in BUILD.  If
    any dependencies are missing, examine the error, install missing packages,
    and try again.

    The installer MUST be run in a terminal.  It automatically builds and
    installs.  Run it like this:

        bash udevil-x.x.x-installer.sh

    or to see options:

        bash udevil-x.x.x-installer.sh --help

    To reinstall or upgrade, just run the latest installer again.

    NOTE: See POST INSTALL section below for post-installation steps.


BUILD

    1)  Install required build dependencies (below are Debian package names -
        packages names on your distro may vary but should be similar):

            libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-dev libudev0 (>=143) libudev-dev
            autotools-dev build-essential fakeroot intltool pkg-config

        Also recommended if using devmon: eject zenity
        
        configure will report anything missing when you run it as shown below.

    2)  Use these commands to download the udevil tarball and build:

        # Download & Extract
        mkdir /tmp/udevil-build && cd /tmp/udevil-build
        wget -O udevil.tar.gz https://github.com/IgnorantGuru/udevil/tarball/master
        tar xzf udevil.tar.gz
        cd IgnorantGuru-udevil-*

        # Build & Install
        ./configure
        make
        sudo make install

        # Remove Temporary Files
        cd / && rm -rf /tmp/udevil-build

    NOTE: If configure reports missing dependencies, install them and run
    configure again before proceeding to make.

    NOTE: See POST INSTALL section below for post-installation steps.


BUILD NEXT

    The git 'next' branch of udevil is a work in progress which eventually
    becomes the next release version.  The next build is less stable in
    general, and functions may be incomplete.  To build from this branch,
    install the required build dependencies listed above in BUILD, then:

    # Download & Extract
    mkdir /tmp/udevil-next && cd /tmp/udevil-next
    wget -O udevil-next.tar.gz https://github.com/IgnorantGuru/udevil/tarball/next
    tar xzf udevil-next.tar.gz
    cd IgnorantGuru-udevil-*

    # Build, & Install
    ./autogen.sh   # pass desired configure options (if any) here to autogen.sh
    make
    sudo make install

    # Remove Temporary Files
    cd / && rm -rf /tmp/udevil-next


CREATE DEB PACKAGE

    To build a deb file of udevil on your Debian-based distro:

    1)  Install build dependencies (see BUILD section above) plus 'debhelper'.

    2)  Use these commands to download and extract the SpaceFM tarball:

        mkdir /tmp/udevil-build && cd /tmp/udevil-build
        # Note: you can change "master" to "next" if you want the next branch:
        wget -O udevil.tar.gz https://github.com/IgnorantGuru/udevil/tarball/master
        tar xzf udevil.tar.gz
        cd IgnorantGuru-udevil-*

    3)  Build package:  (the package files will appear in the parent directory)

        dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc
        cd .. && rm -rf IgnorantGuru-udevil-* udevil.tar.gz

    4)  To install the package you built:

        dpkg -i udevil*.deb


POST INSTALL

    Kernel Polling
    --------------

    You may need to enable kernel polling for device media to be detected by
    udevil.  See ENABLE KERNEL POLLING section below.


    Set SUID
    --------

    After installing udevil, /usr/bin/udevil should have the suid bit already
    set.  If not, set it like this:

        sudo chown root:root /usr/bin/udevil
        sudo chmod u+s,go-s,ugo+x /usr/bin/udevil
        ls -l /usr/bin/udevil
            -rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 226625 May 22 08:13 /usr/bin/udevil

    OR, to restrict execution of udevil to the 'plugdev' group only:

        sudo chown root:plugdev /usr/bin/udevil
        sudo chmod u+s,go-s,o-x /usr/bin/udevil
        ls -l /usr/bin/udevil
            -rwsr-xr-- 1 root plugdev 226625 May 22 08:13 /usr/bin/udevil

    OR, if you don't want to use udevil for mounting, you can unset suid:
        sudo chown root:root /usr/bin/udevil
        sudo chmod ugo-s,ugo+x /usr/bin/udevil
        ls -l /usr/bin/udevil
            -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 226625 May 22 08:13 /usr/bin/udevil

    You can also limit users and groups by editing /etc/udevil/udevil.conf


    Networks and Files
    ------------------

    By default, /etc/udevil/udevil.conf is set to allow only normal fileystems
    to be mounted, with mounting of networks and files disallowed.  To allow
    networks and files to be mounted, in /etc/udevil/udevil.conf set:

        allowed_types = $KNOWN_FILESYSTEMS, smbfs, nfs, ftpfs, curlftpfs, file


    FTP Support
    -----------

    To mount 'ftp://' URLs with udevil, you also need curlftpfs installed:
    http://linuxconfig.org/mount-remote-ftp-directory-host-locally-into-linux-filesystem

    OR you need the ftpfs kernel module:
    http://www.techrepublic.com/article/mount-ftp-volumes-locally-with-ftpfs/5031896


    NTFS-3G
    -------

    If ntfs filesystems aren't mounted writable, you may need to configure your
    system to mount ntfs with ntfs-3g (on some distros this is already done).
    For example:

        sudo ln -s /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g /sbin/mount.ntfs

        # OR if mount.ntfs-3g is located in /usr/bin:
        sudo ln -s /usr/bin/mount.ntfs-3g /usr/bin/mount.ntfs


ENABLE KERNEL POLLING

    You may need to enable kernel polling for device media to be detected by
    udevil.  For example, if you insert a CD and udevil's monitor command
    doesn't report a change to the device, or udevil doesn't see a filesystem
    on the device, this is a symptom that kernel polling is not enabled.

    Kernel polling is a new feature of the Linux kernel and udev, so most
    distros don't yet have it enabled. Even if you are using udisks, enabling
    kernel polling is recommended to eliminate the need for udisks to do
    userspace polling. Kernel polling also corrects a common issue where the
    eject button on a drive won't respond with the newer udev.

    To use kernel polling, your Linux kernel needs to be 2.6.38 or newer, and
    udev must be version 173 or newer.

    TO DETERIME IF KERNEL POLLING IS ENABLED, run these commands:

        cat /sys/module/block/parameters/events_dfl_poll_msecs
        cat /sys/block/sr0/events_poll_msecs

    If you get 0 or -1 from those commands, then it's probably disabled.

    TO ENABLE KERNEL POLLING TEMPORARILY, enable common polling for the block
    module:

        sudo bash -c 'echo 2000 > /sys/module/block/parameters/events_dfl_poll_msecs'

    Any number between 2000 and 5000 (milliseconds) should be reasonable - the
    higher 5000 means poll every 5 seconds, which is less overhead but a little
    slower.

    OR you can enable polling just for a single device like this (/dev/sr0 in
    this example):

        sudo bash -c 'echo 2000 > /sys/block/sr0/events_poll_msecs'

    The change should be immediate - media will be detected and the eject
    button on the drive should work normally again. However, the above changes
    will be lost when you reboot.

    TO MAKE POLLING PERMANENT (survives a reboot), add one of the above
    commands to your /etc/rc.local file (anywhere before the 'exit' line in
    that file), like this (without the sudo):

        echo 2000 > /sys/module/block/parameters/events_dfl_poll_msecs

    OR you can pass this option to the kernel boot command line in grub:

        block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=2000

    References:
    http://www.mail-archive.com/lfs-dev@linuxfromscratch.org/msg15714.html
    http://blogs.gentoo.org/mgorny/2011/06/20/uam-can-now-mount-cds-and-dvds/
    https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/25609


UNINSTALL

    If you installed from a package, use your package manager to remove udevil.
    Otherwise, extract the tarball and enter the directory containing
    configure:

        # first run configure with your original options if needed:
        ./configure
        sudo make uninstall
        # Note: /etc/udevil/ is not automatically removed


TRANSLATIONS

    udevil is not yet ready for translators - please check back soon.


LICENSE

    udevil - Copyright (C) 2012   GPL3

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
    Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
    option) any later version.

    USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  This program is distributed in the hope that it
    will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
    warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See
    the GNU General Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
    with this program; if not,  write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
    51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.

    See COPYING file.