There is a section in the EVMS configuration file, /etc/etc/evms.conf, named "activate." This section has two entries: "include" and "exclude." The "include" entry lists the volumes and objects that should be activated. The "exclude" entry lists the volumes and objects that should not be activated.

Names in either of the entries can be specified using "*", "?", and "[...]" notation. For example, the following entry will activate all the volumes:

include = [/dev/evms/*]

The next entry specifies that objects sda5 and sda7 not be activated:

exclude = [ sda[57] ]

When EVMS is started, it first reads the include entry and builds a list of the volumes and objects that it should activate. It then reads the exclude entry and removes from the list any names found in the exclude list. For example, an activation section that activates all of the volumes except /dev/evms/temp looks like this:

activate {
	include = [/dev/evms/*]
	exclude = [/dev/evms/temp]
}

If /etc/evms.conf does not contain an activate section, the default behavior is to activate everything. This behavior is consistent with versions of EVMS prior to 2.4.

Initial activation via /etc/evms.conf does not deactivate any volumes or objects. It only determines which ones should be active.