1 <?xml version='
1.0'
?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
"-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6 <refentry id=
"systemd-tmpfiles"
7 xmlns:
xi=
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
10 <title>systemd-tmpfiles
</title>
11 <productname>systemd
</productname>
15 <refentrytitle>systemd-tmpfiles
</refentrytitle>
16 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
20 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles
</refname>
21 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
</refname>
22 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev-early.service
</refname>
23 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
</refname>
24 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
</refname>
25 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer
</refname>
26 <refpurpose>Create, delete, and clean up files and directories
</refpurpose>
31 <command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command>
32 <arg choice=
"opt" rep=
"repeat">OPTIONS
</arg>
33 <arg choice=
"opt" rep=
"repeat"><replaceable>CONFIGFILE
</replaceable></arg>
38 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
</filename></member>
39 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev-early.service
</filename></member>
40 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
</filename></member>
41 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
</filename></member>
42 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer
</filename></member>
48 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
</filename></member>
49 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
</filename></member>
50 <member><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer
</filename></member>
56 <title>Description
</title>
58 <para><command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command> creates, deletes, and cleans up volatile and temporary files
59 and directories, using the configuration file format and location specified in
60 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. It must
61 be invoked with one or more commands
<option>--create
</option>,
<option>--remove
</option>, and
62 <option>--clean
</option>, to select the respective subset of operations.
</para>
64 <para>If invoked with no arguments, directives from the configuration files found in the directories
66 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. When
67 invoked with positional arguments, if option
<option>--replace=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option>
68 is specified, arguments specified on the command line are used instead of the configuration file
69 <replaceable>PATH
</replaceable>. Otherwise, just the configuration specified by the command line
70 arguments is executed. If the string
<literal>-
</literal> is specified instead of a filename, the
71 configuration is read from standard input. If the argument is a file name (without any slashes), all
72 configuration directories are searched for a matching file and the file found that has the highest
73 priority is executed. If the argument is a path, that file is used directly without searching the
74 configuration directories for any other matching file.
</para>
76 <para>System services (
<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
</filename>,
77 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev-early.service
</filename>,
78 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
</filename>,
79 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
</filename>) invoke
<command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command> to create
80 system files and to perform system wide cleanup. Those services read administrator-controlled
81 configuration files in
<filename>tmpfiles.d/
</filename> directories. User services
82 (
<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
</filename>,
83 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
</filename>) also invoke
<command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command>, but
84 it reads a separate set of files, which includes user-controlled files under
85 <filename>~/.config/user-tmpfiles.d/
</filename> and
<filename>~/.local/share/user-tmpfiles.d/
</filename>,
86 and administrator-controlled files under
<filename>/usr/share/user-tmpfiles.d/
</filename>. Users may use
87 this to create and clean up files under their control, but the system instance performs global cleanup
88 and is not influenced by user configuration. Note that this means a time-based cleanup configured in the
89 system instance, such as the one typically configured for
<filename>/tmp/
</filename>, will thus also
90 affect files created by the user instance if they are placed in
<filename>/tmp/
</filename>, even if the
91 user instance's time-based cleanup is turned off.
</para>
93 <para>To re-apply settings after configuration has been modified, simply restart
94 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
</filename>, which will apply any settings which can be safely
95 executed at runtime. To debug
<command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command>, it may be useful to invoke it
96 directly from the command line with increased log level (see
<varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL
</varname>
101 <title>Commands and options
</title>
103 <para>The following commands are understood:
</para>
107 <term><option>--create
</option></term>
108 <listitem><para>If this command is passed, all files and
109 directories marked with
110 <varname>f
</varname>,
111 <varname>F
</varname>,
112 <varname>w
</varname>,
113 <varname>d
</varname>,
114 <varname>D
</varname>,
115 <varname>v
</varname>,
116 <varname>p
</varname>,
117 <varname>L
</varname>,
118 <varname>c
</varname>,
119 <varname>b
</varname>,
121 in the configuration files are created or written to. Files
122 and directories marked with
123 <varname>z
</varname>,
124 <varname>Z
</varname>,
125 <varname>t
</varname>,
126 <varname>T
</varname>,
127 <varname>a
</varname>, and
128 <varname>A
</varname> have their ownership, access mode and
129 security labels set.
</para></listitem>
133 <term><option>--clean
</option></term>
134 <listitem><para>If this command is passed, all files and
135 directories with an age parameter configured will be cleaned
136 up.
</para></listitem>
140 <term><option>--remove
</option></term>
141 <listitem><para>If this command is passed, the contents of
142 directories marked with
<varname>D
</varname> or
143 <varname>R
</varname>, and files or directories themselves
144 marked with
<varname>r
</varname> or
<varname>R
</varname> are
145 removed unless an exclusive or shared BSD lock is taken on them (see
<citerefentry
146 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>flock
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
151 <term><option>--purge
</option></term>
152 <listitem><para>If this option is passed, all files and directories created by a
153 <filename>tmpfiles.d/
</filename> entry will be deleted.
</para>
155 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
159 <term><option>--user
</option></term>
160 <listitem><para>Execute
"user" configuration, i.e.
<filename>tmpfiles.d
</filename>
161 files in user configuration directories.
</para>
163 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v236"/></listitem>
167 <term><option>--boot
</option></term>
168 <listitem><para>Also execute lines with an exclamation mark. Lines that are not safe to be executed
169 on a running system may be marked in this way.
<command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command> is executed in
170 early boot with
<option>--boot
</option> specified and will execute those lines. When invoked again
171 later, it should be called without
<option>--boot
</option>.
</para>
173 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v209"/></listitem>
177 <term><option>--graceful
</option></term>
178 <listitem><para>Ignore configuration lines pertaining to unknown users or groups. This option is
179 intended to be used in early boot before all users or groups have been created.
</para>
181 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v254"/></listitem>
185 <term><option>--dry-run
</option></term>
186 <listitem><para>Process the configuration and print what operations would be performed, but don't
187 actually change anything in the file system.
</para>
189 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
193 <term><option>--prefix=
<replaceable>path
</replaceable></option></term>
194 <listitem><para>Only apply rules with paths that start with
195 the specified prefix. This option can be specified multiple
198 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v212"/></listitem>
202 <term><option>--exclude-prefix=
<replaceable>path
</replaceable></option></term>
203 <listitem><para>Ignore rules with paths that start with the
204 specified prefix. This option can be specified multiple
207 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v207"/></listitem>
211 <term><option>-E
</option></term>
212 <listitem><para>A shortcut for
<literal>--exclude-prefix=/dev --exclude-prefix=/proc
213 --exclude-prefix=/run --exclude-prefix=/sys
</literal>, i.e. exclude the hierarchies typically backed
214 by virtual or memory file systems. This is useful in combination with
<option>--root=
</option>, if
215 the specified directory tree contains an OS tree without these virtual/memory file systems mounted
216 in, as it is typically not desirable to create any files and directories below these subdirectories
217 if they are supposed to be overmounted during runtime.
</para>
219 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v247"/></listitem>
223 <term><option>--root=
<replaceable>root
</replaceable></option></term>
224 <listitem><para>Takes a directory path as an argument. All paths will be prefixed with the given alternate
225 <replaceable>root
</replaceable> path, including config search paths.
</para>
227 <para>When this option is used, the libc Name Service Switch (NSS) is bypassed for resolving users
228 and groups. Instead the files
<filename>/etc/passwd
</filename> and
<filename>/etc/group
</filename>
229 inside the alternate root are read directly. This means that users/groups not listed in these files
230 will not be resolved, i.e. LDAP NIS and other complex databases are not considered.
</para>
232 <para>Consider combining this with
<option>-E
</option> to ensure the invocation does not create files
233 or directories below mount points in the OS image operated on that are typically overmounted during
236 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v212"/></listitem>
240 <term><option>--image=
<replaceable>image
</replaceable></option></term>
242 <listitem><para>Takes a path to a disk image file or block device node. If specified all operations
243 are applied to file system in the indicated disk image. This is similar to
<option>--root=
</option>
244 but operates on file systems stored in disk images or block devices. The disk image should either
245 contain just a file system or a set of file systems within a GPT partition table, following the
246 <ulink url=
"https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/discoverable_partitions_specification">Discoverable Partitions
247 Specification
</ulink>. For further information on supported disk images, see
248 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>'s
249 switch of the same name.
</para>
251 <para>Implies
<option>-E
</option>.
</para>
253 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v247"/></listitem>
256 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"image-policy-open" />
259 <term><option>--replace=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
260 <listitem><para>When this option is given, one or more positional arguments
261 must be specified. All configuration files found in the directories listed in
262 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
263 will be read, and the configuration given on the command line will be
264 handled instead of and with the same priority as the configuration file
265 <replaceable>PATH
</replaceable>.
</para>
267 <para>This option is intended to be used when package installation scripts
268 are running and files belonging to that package are not yet available on
269 disk, so their contents must be given on the command line, but the admin
270 configuration might already exist and should be given higher priority.
273 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v238"/></listitem>
276 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"cat-config" />
277 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"tldr" />
278 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"no-pager" />
279 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"help" />
280 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"version" />
283 <para>It is possible to combine
<option>--create
</option>,
<option>--clean
</option>, and
<option>--remove
</option>
284 in one invocation (in which case removal and cleanup are executed before creation of new files). For example,
285 during boot the following command line is executed to ensure that all temporary and volatile directories are
286 removed and created according to the configuration file:
</para>
288 <programlisting>systemd-tmpfiles --remove --create
</programlisting>
292 <title>Credentials
</title>
294 <para><command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command> supports the service credentials logic as implemented by
295 <varname>ImportCredential=
</varname>/
<varname>LoadCredential=
</varname>/
<varname>SetCredential=
</varname>
296 (see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
297 details). The following credentials are used when passed in:
</para>
299 <variablelist class='system-credentials'
>
301 <term><varname>tmpfiles.extra
</varname></term>
303 <listitem><para> The contents of this credential may contain additional lines to operate on. The
304 credential contents should follow the same format as any other
<filename>tmpfiles.d/
</filename>
305 drop-in configuration file. If this credential is passed it is processed after all of the drop-in
306 files read from the file system. The lines in the credential can hence augment existing lines of the
307 OS, but not override them.
</para>
309 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v252"/></listitem>
313 <para>Note that by default the
<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
</filename> unit file (and related
314 unit files) is set up to inherit the
<literal>tmpfiles.extra
</literal> credential from the service
319 <title>Environment
</title>
321 <variablelist class='environment-variables'
>
322 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"log-level" />
323 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"log-color" />
324 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"log-time" />
325 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"log-location" />
326 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"log-target" />
327 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"pager" />
328 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"less" />
329 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"lesscharset" />
330 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"lesssecure" />
331 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"colors" />
332 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" xpointer=
"urlify" />
337 <title>Unprivileged --cleanup operation
</title>
339 <para><command>systemd-tmpfiles
</command> tries to avoid changing
340 the access and modification times on the directories it accesses,
341 which requires
<constant>CAP_FOWNER
</constant> privileges. When
342 running as non-root, directories which are checked for files to
343 clean up will have their access time bumped, which might prevent
349 <title>Exit status
</title>
351 <para>On success,
0 is returned. If the configuration was syntactically invalid (syntax errors, missing
352 arguments, …), so some lines had to be ignored, but no other errors occurred,
<constant>65</constant> is
353 returned (
<constant>EX_DATAERR
</constant> from
<filename>/usr/include/sysexits.h
</filename>). If the
354 configuration was syntactically valid, but could not be executed (lack of permissions, creation of files
355 in missing directories, invalid contents when writing to
<filename>/sys/
</filename> values, …),
356 <constant>73</constant> is returned (
<constant>EX_CANTCREAT
</constant> from
357 <filename>/usr/include/sysexits.h
</filename>). Otherwise,
<constant>1</constant> is returned
358 (
<constant>EXIT_FAILURE
</constant> from
<filename>/usr/include/stdlib.h
</filename>).
</para>
360 <para>Note: when creating items, if the target already exists, but is of the wrong type or otherwise does
361 not match the requested state, and forced operation has not been requested with
<literal>+
</literal>,
362 a message is emitted, but the failure is otherwise ignored.
</para>
366 <title>See Also
</title>
367 <para><simplelist type=
"inline">
368 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
369 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>