Table of Contents
resmgrd reads a static device list from /etc/resmgr.conf. Some rogue hotplug scripts also add devices at run time. Access to devices only possible via libresmgr. Mostly affects cdrecord. Programs linked against system libusb transparently use libresmgr. Device ownership is changed independently from resmgr by pam_devperm on login.
resmgrd no longer uses a static list of devices. Instead the helper program hal-resmgr is called by hald to register devices in resmgrd. resmgrd now also installs ACLs for devices in the filesystem. A fallback to chown is used for the first user if filesystem ACLs are not available. dbus uses the files in /var/run/resmgr/classes/desktop/ for access control (at_console).
usb devices are now regular devices in /dev rather than /proc/bus/usb. Therefore libusb no longer utilizes resmgr and relies on file system permissions for /dev/bus/usb/*
resmgrd no longer knows about devices at all, it only tracks user logins and manages the classes associated with logins. The helper program hal-resmgr now sets ACLs on devices and gets called by both resmgrd and hald. The now obsolete libresmgr functions for handling devices were replaced by stubs that always fail. The fallback to chown is no longer possible with hal-resmgr, therefore ACL support on /dev is mandatory. pam_devperm is no longer used, therefore a working resmgr and hal are mandatory for device access. Resmgr also notifies PolicyKit about user logins which then grants access to the 'desktop-console' privilege.