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Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:01:59 -0600 (MDT)
From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To: doc@freebsd.org
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Subject: dbus, hald, policykit
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Given that HAL and friends are now pretty much standard for desktop 
environments, shouldn't the Handbook have some (FreeBSD-specific) basic 
material on them?  For starters:


Overview

   HAL is a Hardware Abstraction Layer that attempts to "Make Hardware
   Just Work." http://www.ometer.com/hardware.html

   PolicyKit is a framework for defining policy for HAL.

   D-Bus is a message bus system that allows applications to communicate
   with each other.

Enabling (in rc.conf)
   dbus_enable="YES"
   hald_enable="YES"
   polkitd_enable="YES"

Basic Configuration
   adding a user to the operator group
   how to enable/disable automounting of removable media
   changing mount options for removable media
   /usr/ports/sysutils/hal-device-manager

More Information
   http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus
   http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/hal


...and that's pretty much everything I know about it, so someone else 
would have to expand on this.

-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA