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522d4a49 1<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
3a54a157 2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
12b42c76 3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
0307f791 4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1+ -->
522d4a49 5
dfdebb1b 6<refentry id="systemd-tmpfiles"
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7 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
8
9 <refentryinfo>
10 <title>systemd-tmpfiles</title>
11 <productname>systemd</productname>
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12 </refentryinfo>
13
14 <refmeta>
15 <refentrytitle>systemd-tmpfiles</refentrytitle>
16 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
17 </refmeta>
18
19 <refnamediv>
20 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles</refname>
21 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service</refname>
22 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service</refname>
23 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service</refname>
24 <refname>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer</refname>
25 <refpurpose>Creates, deletes and cleans up volatile
26 and temporary files and directories</refpurpose>
27 </refnamediv>
28
29 <refsynopsisdiv>
30 <cmdsynopsis>
31 <command>systemd-tmpfiles</command>
32 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
33 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat"><replaceable>CONFIGFILE</replaceable></arg>
34 </cmdsynopsis>
35
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36 <para>System units:
37<literallayout><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service</filename>
38<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service</filename>
39<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service</filename>
40<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer</filename></literallayout></para>
41
42 <para>User units:
43<literallayout><filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service</filename>
44<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service</filename>
45<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer</filename></literallayout></para>
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46 </refsynopsisdiv>
47
48 <refsect1>
49 <title>Description</title>
50
51 <para><command>systemd-tmpfiles</command> creates, deletes, and
52 cleans up volatile and temporary files and directories, based on
53 the configuration file format and location specified in
54 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
55 </para>
56
f7ac1ed2 57 <para>If invoked with no arguments, it applies all directives from all configuration
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58 files. When invoked with <option>--replace=<replaceable>PATH</replaceable></option>,
59 arguments specified on the command line are used instead of the configuration file
60 <replaceable>PATH</replaceable>. Otherwise, if one or more absolute filenames are
61 passed on the command line, only the directives in these files are applied. If
62 <literal>-</literal> is specified instead of a filename, directives are read from
63 standard input. If only the basename of a configuration file is specified, all
64 configuration directories as specified in
798d3a52 65 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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66 are searched for a matching file and the file found that has the highest priority is
67 executed.</para>
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68
69 <para>System services (<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service</filename>,
70 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service</filename>,
71 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service</filename>) invoke <command>systemd-tmpfiles</command> to create
72 system files and to perform system wide cleanup. Those services read administrator-controlled
73 configuration files in <filename>tmpfiles.d/</filename> directories. User services
74 (<filename>systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service</filename>,
75 <filename>systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service</filename>) also invoke <command>systemd-tmpfiles</command>, but
76 it reads a separate set of files, which includes user-controlled files under
77 <filename>~/.config/user-tmpfiles.d/</filename> and <filename>~/.local/share/user-tmpfiles.d/</filename>,
78 and administrator-controller files under <filename>/usr/share/user-tmpfiles.d/</filename>. Users may use
79 this to create and clean up files under their control, but the system instance performs global cleanup
80 and is not influenced by user configuration. Note that this means a time-based cleanup configured in the
81 system instance, such as the one typically configured for <filename>/tmp</filename>, will thus also
82 affect files created by the user instance if they are placed in <filename>/tmp</filename>, even if the
83 user instance's time-based cleanup is turned off.</para>
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84 </refsect1>
85
86 <refsect1>
87 <title>Options</title>
88
89 <para>The following options are understood:</para>
90
91 <variablelist>
92 <varlistentry>
93 <term><option>--create</option></term>
94 <listitem><para>If this option is passed, all files and
95 directories marked with
96 <varname>f</varname>,
97 <varname>F</varname>,
98 <varname>w</varname>,
99 <varname>d</varname>,
100 <varname>D</varname>,
101 <varname>v</varname>,
102 <varname>p</varname>,
103 <varname>L</varname>,
104 <varname>c</varname>,
105 <varname>b</varname>,
106 <varname>m</varname>
107 in the configuration files are created or written to. Files
108 and directories marked with
109 <varname>z</varname>,
110 <varname>Z</varname>,
111 <varname>t</varname>,
112 <varname>T</varname>,
113 <varname>a</varname>, and
114 <varname>A</varname> have their ownership, access mode and
f2b5ca0e 115 security labels set.</para></listitem>
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116 </varlistentry>
117
118 <varlistentry>
119 <term><option>--clean</option></term>
120 <listitem><para>If this option is passed, all files and
121 directories with an age parameter configured will be cleaned
122 up.</para></listitem>
123 </varlistentry>
124
125 <varlistentry>
126 <term><option>--remove</option></term>
127 <listitem><para>If this option is passed, the contents of
128 directories marked with <varname>D</varname> or
129 <varname>R</varname>, and files or directories themselves
130 marked with <varname>r</varname> or <varname>R</varname> are
131 removed.</para></listitem>
132 </varlistentry>
d9daae55 133
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134 <varlistentry>
135 <term><option>--user</option></term>
136 <listitem><para>Execute "user" configuration, i.e. <filename>tmpfiles.d</filename>
137 files in user configuration directories.</para></listitem>
138 </varlistentry>
139
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140 <varlistentry>
141 <term><option>--boot</option></term>
142 <listitem><para>Also execute lines with an exclamation mark.
143 </para></listitem>
144 </varlistentry>
d9daae55 145
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146 <varlistentry>
147 <term><option>--prefix=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option></term>
148 <listitem><para>Only apply rules with paths that start with
149 the specified prefix. This option can be specified multiple
150 times.</para></listitem>
151 </varlistentry>
dd04fb32 152
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153 <varlistentry>
154 <term><option>--exclude-prefix=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option></term>
155 <listitem><para>Ignore rules with paths that start with the
156 specified prefix. This option can be specified multiple
157 times.</para></listitem>
158 </varlistentry>
3e54b900 159
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160 <varlistentry>
161 <term><option>-E</option></term>
162 <listitem><para>A shortcut for <literal>--exclude-prefix=/dev --exclude-prefix=/proc
163 --exclude-prefix=/run --exclude-prefix=/sys</literal>, i.e. exclude the hierarchies typically backed
164 by virtual or memory file systems. This is useful in combination with <option>--root=</option>, if
165 the specified directory tree contains an OS tree without these virtual/memory file systems mounted
166 in, as it is typically not desirable to create any files and directories below these subdirectories
167 if they are supposed to be overmounted during runtime.</para></listitem>
168 </varlistentry>
169
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170 <varlistentry>
171 <term><option>--root=<replaceable>root</replaceable></option></term>
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172 <listitem><para>Takes a directory path as an argument. All paths will be prefixed with the given alternate
173 <replaceable>root</replaceable> path, including config search paths.</para>
174
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175 <para>When this option is used, the libc Name Service Switch (NSS) is bypassed for resolving users
176 and groups. Instead the files <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and <filename>/etc/group</filename>
177 inside the alternate root are read directly. This means that users/groups not listed in these files
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178 will not be resolved, i.e. LDAP NIS and other complex databases are not considered.</para>
179
180 <para>Consider combining this with <option>-E</option> to ensure the invocation does not create files
181 or directories below mount points in the OS image operated on that are typically overmounted during
182 runtime.</para></listitem>
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183 </varlistentry>
184
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185 <varlistentry>
186 <term><option>--image=<replaceable>image</replaceable></option></term>
187
188 <listitem><para>Takes a path to a disk image file or block device node. If specified all operations
189 are applied to file system in the indicated disk image. This is similar to <option>--root=</option>
190 but operates on file systems stored in disk images or block devices. The disk image should either
191 contain just a file system or a set of file systems within a GPT partition table, following the
192 <ulink url="https://systemd.io/DISCOVERABLE_PARTITIONS">Discoverable Partitions
193 Specification</ulink>. For further information on supported disk images, see
194 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>'s
195 switch of the same name.</para>
196
197 <para>Implies <option>-E</option>.</para></listitem>
198 </varlistentry>
199
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200 <varlistentry>
201 <term><option>--replace=<replaceable>PATH</replaceable></option></term>
202 <listitem><para>When this option is given, one ore more positional arguments
203 must be specified. All configuration files found in the directories listed in
204 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
205 will be read, and the configuration given on the command line will be
206 handled instead of and with the same priority as the configuration file
207 <replaceable>PATH</replaceable>.</para>
208
209 <para>This option is intended to be used when package installation scripts
210 are running and files belonging to that package are not yet available on
211 disk, so their contents must be given on the command line, but the admin
212 configuration might already exist and should be given higher priority.
213 </para></listitem>
214 </varlistentry>
215
ceaaeb9b 216 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="cat-config" />
dcd5c891 217 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-pager" />
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218 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
219 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
220 </variablelist>
221
bdee3f55 222 <para>It is possible to combine <option>--create</option>, <option>--clean</option>, and <option>--remove</option>
72703632 223 in one invocation (in which case removal and cleanup are executed before creation of new files). For example,
bdee3f55 224 during boot the following command line is executed to ensure that all temporary and volatile directories are
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225 removed and created according to the configuration file:</para>
226
227 <programlisting>systemd-tmpfiles --remove --create</programlisting>
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228 </refsect1>
229
230 <refsect1>
231 <title>Unprivileged --cleanup operation</title>
232
233 <para><command>systemd-tmpfiles</command> tries to avoid changing
234 the access and modification times on the directories it accesses,
3c84514d 235 which requires <constant>CAP_FOWNER</constant> privileges. When
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236 running as non-root, directories which are checked for files to
237 clean up will have their access time bumped, which might prevent
238 their cleanup.
239 </para>
240 </refsect1>
241
242 <refsect1>
243 <title>Exit status</title>
244
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245 <para>On success, 0 is returned. If the configuration was syntactically invalid (syntax errors,
246 missing arguments, …), so some lines had to be ignored, but no other errors occurred,
d9daae55 247 <constant>65</constant> is returned (<constant>EX_DATAERR</constant> from
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248 <filename>/usr/include/sysexits.h</filename>). If the configuration was syntactically valid, but
249 could not be executed (lack of permissions, creation of files in missing directories, invalid
250 contents when writing to <filename>/sys/</filename> values, …), <constant>73</constant> is
da6c7806 251 returned (<constant>EX_CANTCREAT</constant> from <filename>/usr/include/sysexits.h</filename>).
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252 Otherwise, <constant>1</constant> is returned (<constant>EXIT_FAILURE</constant> from
253 <filename>/usr/include/stdlib.h</filename>).
d9daae55 254 </para>
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255 </refsect1>
256
257 <refsect1>
258 <title>See Also</title>
259 <para>
260 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
261 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
262 </para>
263 </refsect1>
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264
265</refentry>