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The Arch wiki recommended creating a file in /etc/udev/rules.d/ to fix my Steam controller issues. This worked! However, I noticed that there are no other rules in this folder except for the one I just created. Additionally, all other sources I've seen say to place udev rules in /lib/udev/rules.d/, and there are plenty of other udev rules in this folder too. Why are there two folders for seemingly the same thing, and which one should I use?

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The difference between the two folders is that:

/lib/udev/rules.d

Contains default rules files. Do not edit these files.

/etc/udev/rules.d/*.rules

Contains customized rules files. You can modify these files or create them.

However, files with identical file names replace each other. Files in /etc have the highest priority and take precedence over files with the same name in /lib. This can be used to override the default rules.

Another thing, to disable the the rules file entirely, you can create a symlink in /etc with the same name as a rules file in /lib, pointing to /dev/null.

So to finish, Udev rules written by the administrator go in /etc/udev/rules.d/, and their file name has to end with .rules. The default udev rules are found in /lib/udev/rules.d/ (or /usr/lib/udev/rules.d). If there are two files by the same name under /lib and /etc, the ones in /etc take precedence.

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    Thank you for your answer. However, I'm not sure why I have been downvoted for asking a question? :(
    – Aaron Franke
    Dec 31, 2016 at 20:49
  • 4
    @AaronFranke you have been downvoted because them downvote fairies were having a bad day.
    – GeneCode
    Aug 9, 2018 at 5:29

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