]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/systemd.git/blame - man/standard-conf.xml
man: use <refsect1> instead of <refsection>
[thirdparty/systemd.git] / man / standard-conf.xml
CommitLineData
514094f9 1<?xml version="1.0"?>
bc6fdcbf 2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
12b42c76 3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
d3fae78f 4
f48f7543 5<!--
db9ecf05 6 SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
96b2fb93 7 Copyright © 2014 Josh Triplett
f48f7543
ZJS
8-->
9
bc6fdcbf
DT
10<refentry>
11 <refnamediv>
12 <refname/>
13 <refpurpose/>
14 </refnamediv>
af355f19 15
bc6fdcbf 16 <refsect1 id='confd'>
d3fae78f
JT
17 <title>Configuration Directories and Precedence</title>
18
e76c60bf
ZJS
19 <para>Configuration files are read from directories in <filename>/etc/</filename>,
20 <filename>/run/</filename>, <filename>/usr/local/lib/</filename>, and <filename>/usr/lib/</filename>, in
37b22b3b 21 order of precedence, as listed in the SYNOPSIS section above. Files must have the
e76c60bf
ZJS
22 <literal>.conf</literal> extension. Files in <filename>/etc/</filename> override files with the same name
23 in <filename>/run/</filename>, <filename>/usr/local/lib/</filename>, and
24 <filename>/usr/lib/</filename>. Files in <filename>/run/</filename> override files with the same name
25 under <filename>/usr/</filename>.</para>
5ae4336a 26
e76c60bf
ZJS
27 <para>All configuration files are sorted by their filename in lexicographic order, regardless of which of
28 the directories they reside in. If multiple files specify the same option, the entry in the file with the
29 lexicographically latest name will take precedence. Thus, the configuration in a certain file may either
30 be replaced completely (by placing a file with the same name in a directory with higher priority), or
31 individual settings might be changed (by specifying additional settings in a file with a different name
32 that is ordered later).</para>
d3fae78f 33
e76c60bf
ZJS
34 <para>Packages should install their configuration files in <filename>/usr/lib/</filename> (distribution
35 packages) or <filename>/usr/local/lib/</filename> (local installs). Files in <filename>/etc/</filename>
36 are reserved for the local administrator, who may use this logic to override the configuration files
37 installed by vendor packages. It is recommended to prefix all filenames with a two-digit number and a
38 dash, to simplify the ordering of the files.</para>
39
40 <para>If the administrator wants to disable a configuration file supplied by the vendor, the recommended
41 way is to place a symlink to <filename>/dev/null</filename> in the configuration directory in
42 <filename>/etc/</filename>, with the same filename as the vendor configuration file. If the vendor
43 configuration file is included in the initrd image, the image has to be regenerated.</para>
bc6fdcbf 44 </refsect1>
d3fae78f 45
bc6fdcbf 46 <refsect1 id='main-conf'>
e93549ef
ZJS
47 <title>Configuration Directories and Precedence</title>
48
a7a18878 49 <para>The default configuration is set during compilation, so configuration is only needed when it is
c76f2fb0 50 necessary to deviate from those defaults. The main configuration file is either in
cae6ba72 51 <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/</filename> or <filename>/etc/systemd/</filename> and contains commented out
c76f2fb0
FB
52 entries showing the defaults as a guide to the administrator. Local overrides can be created by creating
53 drop-ins, as described below. The main configuration file can also be edited for this purpose (or a copy
cae6ba72 54 in <filename>/etc/</filename> if it's shipped in <filename>/usr/</filename>) however using drop-ins for
c76f2fb0 55 local configuration is recommended over modifications to the main configuration file.</para>
e93549ef 56
a7a18878
ZJS
57 <para>In addition to the "main" configuration file, drop-in configuration snippets are read from
58 <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/</filename>, <filename>/usr/local/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/</filename>,
59 and <filename>/etc/systemd/*.conf.d/</filename>. Those drop-ins have higher precedence and override the
60 main configuration file. Files in the <filename>*.conf.d/</filename> configuration subdirectories are
61 sorted by their filename in lexicographic order, regardless of in which of the subdirectories they
62 reside. When multiple files specify the same option, for options which accept just a single value, the
63 entry in the file sorted last takes precedence, and for options which accept a list of values, entries
64 are collected as they occur in the sorted files.</para>
e76c60bf 65
a7a18878
ZJS
66 <para>When packages need to customize the configuration, they can install drop-ins under
67 <filename>/usr/</filename>. Files in <filename>/etc/</filename> are reserved for the local administrator,
68 who may use this logic to override the configuration files installed by vendor packages. Drop-ins have to
69 be used to override package drop-ins, since the main configuration file has lower precedence. It is
70 recommended to prefix all filenames in those subdirectories with a two-digit number and a dash, to
c76f2fb0
FB
71 simplify the ordering of the files. This also defined a concept of drop-in priority to allow
72 distributions to ship drop-ins within a specific range lower than the range used by users. This should
73 lower the risk of package drop-ins overriding accidentally drop-ins defined by users.</para>
e93549ef 74
a7a18878
ZJS
75 <para>To disable a configuration file supplied by the vendor, the recommended way is to place a symlink
76 to <filename>/dev/null</filename> in the configuration directory in <filename>/etc/</filename>, with the
77 same filename as the vendor configuration file.</para>
bc6fdcbf
DT
78 </refsect1>
79</refentry>