man/systemd-tmpfiles.xml

   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/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
   4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1+ -->
   5
   6 <refentry id="systemd-tmpfiles"
   7     xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
   8
   9   <refentryinfo>
  10     <title>systemd-tmpfiles</title>
  11     <productname>systemd</productname>
  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
  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>
  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
  57     <para>If invoked with no arguments, it applies all directives from all configuration
  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
  65     <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
  66     are searched for a matching file and the file found that has the highest priority is
  67     executed.</para>
  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>
  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
 115         security labels set.</para></listitem>
 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>
 133
 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
 140       <varlistentry>
 141         <term><option>--boot</option></term>
 142         <listitem><para>Also execute lines with an exclamation mark.
 143         </para></listitem>
 144       </varlistentry>
 145
 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>
 152       <varlistentry>
 153         <term><option>--exclude-prefix=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option></term>
 154         <listitem><para>Ignore rules with paths that start with the
 155         specified prefix. This option can be specified multiple
 156         times.</para></listitem>
 157       </varlistentry>
 158
 159       <varlistentry>
 160         <term><option>--root=<replaceable>root</replaceable></option></term>
 161         <listitem><para>Takes a directory path as an argument. All paths will be prefixed with the given alternate
 162         <replaceable>root</replaceable> path, including config search paths.</para>
 163
 164         <para>When this option is used, the libc Name Service Switch (NSS) is bypassed for resolving users
 165         and groups. Instead the files <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and <filename>/etc/group</filename>
 166         inside the alternate root are read directly. This means that users/groups not listed in these files
 167         will not be resolved, i.e. LDAP NIS and other complex databases are not considered.</para></listitem>
 168       </varlistentry>
 169
 170       <varlistentry>
 171         <term><option>--replace=<replaceable>PATH</replaceable></option></term>
 172         <listitem><para>When this option is given, one ore more positional arguments
 173         must be specified. All configuration files found in the directories listed in
 174         <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
 175         will be read, and the configuration given on the command line will be
 176         handled instead of and with the same priority as the configuration file
 177         <replaceable>PATH</replaceable>.</para>
 178
 179         <para>This option is intended to be used when package installation scripts
 180         are running and files belonging to that package are not yet available on
 181         disk, so their contents must be given on the command line, but the admin
 182         configuration might already exist and should be given higher priority.
 183         </para></listitem>
 184       </varlistentry>
 185
 186       <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="cat-config" />
 187       <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-pager" />
 188       <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
 189       <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
 190     </variablelist>
 191
 192     <para>It is possible to combine <option>--create</option>, <option>--clean</option>, and <option>--remove</option>
 193     in one invocation (in which case removal and cleanup are executed before creation of new files). For example,
 194     during boot the following command line is executed to ensure that all temporary and volatile directories are
 195     removed and created according to the configuration file:</para>
 196
 197     <programlisting>systemd-tmpfiles --remove --create</programlisting>
 198   </refsect1>
 199
 200   <refsect1>
 201     <title>Unprivileged --cleanup operation</title>
 202
 203     <para><command>systemd-tmpfiles</command> tries to avoid changing
 204     the access and modification times on the directories it accesses,
 205     which requires <constant>CAP_FOWNER</constant> privileges. When
 206     running as non-root, directories which are checked for files to
 207     clean up will have their access time bumped, which might prevent
 208     their cleanup.
 209     </para>
 210   </refsect1>
 211
 212   <refsect1>
 213     <title>Exit status</title>
 214
 215     <para>On success, 0 is returned. If the configuration was syntactically invalid (syntax errors,
 216     missing arguments, …), so some lines had to be ignored, but no other errors occurred,
 217     <constant>65</constant> is returned (<constant>EX_DATAERR</constant> from
 218     <filename>/usr/include/sysexits.h</filename>). If the configuration was syntactically valid, but
 219     could not be executed (lack of permissions, creation of files in missing directories, invalid
 220     contents when writing to <filename>/sys/</filename> values, …), <constant>73</constant> is
 221     returned (<constant>EX_CANTCREAT</constant> from <filename>/usr/include/sysexits.h</filename>).
 222     Otherwise, <constant>1</constant> is returned (<constant>EXIT_FAILURE</constant> from
 223     <filename>/usr/include/stdlib.h</filename>).
 224     </para>
 225   </refsect1>
 226
 227   <refsect1>
 228     <title>See Also</title>
 229     <para>
 230       <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 231       <citerefentry><refentrytitle>tmpfiles.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
 232     </para>
 233   </refsect1>
 234
 235 </refentry>