[Boot Loader Specification](https://systemd.io/BOOT_LOADER_SPECIFICATION)<br>
[Boot Loader Interface](https://systemd.io/BOOT_LOADER_INTERFACE)<br>
-[systemd-boot(7)](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd-boot.html)<br>
-[bootctl(1)](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/bootctl.html)<br>
-[systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8)](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd-gpt-auto-generator.html)
+[Safely Building Images](https://systemd.io/BUILDING_IMAGES)<br>
+[`systemd-boot(7)`](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd-boot.html)<br>
+[`bootctl(1)`](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/bootctl.html)<br>
+[`systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8)`](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd-gpt-auto-generator.html)
<filename>/etc/machine-id</filename> may also be written using any other means.
</para>
- <para>For operating system images which are created once and used on multiple
- machines, for example for containers or in the cloud,
- <filename>/etc/machine-id</filename> should be either missing or an empty file in the generic file
- system image (the difference between the two options is described under "First Boot Semantics" below). An
- ID will be generated during boot and saved to this file if possible. Having an empty file in place is
- useful because it allows a temporary file to be bind-mounted over the real file, in case the image is
- used read-only.</para>
+ <para>For operating system images which are created once and used on multiple machines, for example for
+ containers or in the cloud, <filename>/etc/machine-id</filename> should be either missing or an empty
+ file in the generic file system image (the difference between the two options is described under "First
+ Boot Semantics" below). An ID will be generated during boot and saved to this file if possible. Having an
+ empty file in place is useful because it allows a temporary file to be bind-mounted over the real file,
+ in case the image is used read-only. Also see <ulink url="https://systemd.io/BUILDING_IMAGES">Safely
+ Building Images</ulink>.</para>
<para><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
may be used to initialize <filename>/etc/machine-id</filename> on mounted (but not
thus — if otherwise entropy-starved — generate the same or at least guessable random seed streams. As a
safety precaution crediting entropy is thus disabled by default. It is recommended to remove the random
seed from OS images intended for replication on multiple systems, in which case it is safe to enable
- entropy crediting, see below.</para>
+ entropy crediting, see below. Also see <ulink url="https://systemd.io/BUILDING_IMAGES">Safely Building
+ Images</ulink>.</para>
<para>See <ulink url="https://systemd.io/RANDOM_SEEDS">Random Seeds</ulink> for further
information.</para>