CONFIGD(8)                BSD System Manager's Manual               CONFIGD(8)

NAME
     configd -- System Configuration Daemon

SYNOPSIS
     configd [-bdv] [-B bundleID] [-V bundleID] [-t bundle-path]

DESCRIPTION
     The configd daemon is responsible for many configuration aspects of the
     local system.  configd maintains data reflecting the desired and current
     state of the system, provides notifications to applications when this
     data changes, and hosts a number of configuration agents in the form of
     loadable bundles.

     Each configuration agent is responsible for a well-defined aspect of con-
     figuration management. The agents look to one or more input sources
     (preferences, low-level kernel events, configd notifications, etc) and,
     through a set of policy modules, interacts with the system to establish
     the desired operational configuration.

     Access to the data maintained by configd is via the SystemConfigura-
     tion.framework SCDynamicStore APIs.

OPTIONS
     The command line options are as follows:

     -b  Don't actually load any bundles.

     -B bundleID
         Prevents the loading of the bundle with the specified bundleID.

     -d  Run configd in the foreground without forking.  This is useful for
         debugging.

     -v  Puts configd into verbose mode.  Displays debugging information about
         bundles as they are being loaded.

     -V bundleID
         Turns verbose mode on for the bundle with the specified bundleID.

     -t bundle-path
         Loads only the bundle specified by bundle-path.

BUNDLES
     At the present time, the majority of the configuration agents (or bun-
     dles) hosted by configd are used to establish and maintain the network
     configuration.  These agents include:

   KernelEventMonitor
     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.

   InterfaceNamer
     This bundle provides a name to each of the system's network interfaces.
     The bundle queries the IOKit Registry for a list of network devices
     attached to the system and gives them BSD style names such as "en0".

   IPConfiguration
     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).

   IP6Configuration
     This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining IPv6 addresses
     on the system.

   IPMonitor
     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.

   LinkConfiguration
     This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining the media
     type, media options, and MTU for ethernet interfaces.

   PreferencesMonitor
     This agent is responsible for conveying the network configuration prefer-
     ences specified by the administrator to the various configuration agents
     (IPv4, IPv6, ...).

   PPPController
     This agent is responsible for establishing and maintaining PPP connec-
     tions on the system.

FILES
     /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/
         Directory of configd bundles

     /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
         Default directory for system configuration persistent store files.

         .../preferences.plist               System configuration

         .../NetworkInterfaces.plist         Network interface --> BSD inter-
                                             face mappings

         .../VirtualNetworkInterfaces.plist  Virtual network interface (VLAN)
                                             configuration

ERRORS
     Log messages generated by configd and any configuration agents will are
     sent to the system log daemon by syslog(3).  The syslog facility used is
     LOG_DAEMON.  If the -d option is specified, log messages with written to
     stdout (or stderr if the priority is greater than LOG_NOTICE).

SIGNALS
     configd was designed to run without any intervention but if you insist on
     sending a signal to the daemon then the following are available:

     SIGHUP   This signal, typically used to tell a daemon to reload its con-
              figuration, is ignored (there is no configuration).

     SIGTERM  This signal initiates a "graceful" shutdown of the daemon.

SEE ALSO
     scutil(8), scselect(8)

HISTORY
     The configd daemon appeared in Mac OS X Public Beta.

NOTES
     Unless started with the -d option, configd will register with launchd(8)
     such that the daemon will be restarted in the event of a crash.  This
     registration will be removed during "graceful" shutdowns of the daemon.

     This daemon and its current behavior may change without notice.  Do not
     rely on its existence or its behavior.  Consider it an unsupported com-
     mand.

Mac OS X                         June 18, 2009                        Mac OS X