Which utility is utilized for monitoring and connecting to hot-pluggable devices in Linux?

The utility that is utilized for monitoring and connecting to hot-pluggable devices in Linux is udev. Udev is a device manager for the Linux kernel that manages device nodes in the /dev directory and handles the dynamic creation of device entries in response to device events. When a hot-pluggable device is connected or disconnected, udev recognizes this change and executes rules that specify how the system should react, such as loading specific drivers or executing scripts.

Udev plays a crucial role in ensuring that devices are recognized and configured correctly in real time, which is essential for the operation of devices like USB drives, external hard drives, and other peripherals. Its ability to respond to events dynamically makes it a vital component of the Linux device management infrastructure, particularly for hot-pluggable hardware.

In contrast, the other options serve different purposes. For instance, lsusb is specifically used to list USB devices connected to the system, but it does not manage device connections. Dmesg is utilized to print or control the kernel ring buffer and is primarily used for diagnostic purposes, providing information about system boot messages and device initialization. Hotplug was an older method to assist in managing hot-pluggable devices, but it has largely been replaced by udev in modern