temporary files and directories which usually reside
in directories such as <filename>/run</filename>
or <filename>/tmp</filename>.</para>
+
+ <para>Volatile and temporary files and directories are
+ those located in <filename>/run</filename> (and its
+ alias <filename>/var/run</filename>),
+ <filename>/tmp</filename>,
+ <filename>/var/tmp</filename>, the API file systems
+ such as <filename>/sys</filename> or
+ <filename>/proc</filename>, as well as some other
+ directories below <filename>/var</filename>.</para>
+
+ <para>System daemons frequently require private
+ runtime directories below <filename>/run</filename> to
+ place communication sockets and similar in. For these
+ consider declaring them in their unit files using
+ <varname>RuntimeDirectory=</varname>
+ (see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details),
+ if this is feasible.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Configuration Format</title>
<para>Each configuration file shall be named in the
- style of <filename><package>.conf</filename>.
- Files in <filename>/etc/</filename> override files
- with the same name in <filename>/usr/lib/</filename>
- and <filename>/run/</filename>. Files in
- <filename>/run/</filename> override files with the same
- name in <filename>/usr/lib/</filename>. Packages
+ style of
+ <filename><replaceable>package</replaceable>.conf</filename>
+ or
+ <filename><replaceable>package</replaceable>-<replaceable>part</replaceable>.conf</filename>.
+ The second variant should be used when it is desirable
+ to make it easy to override just this part of
+ configuration.</para>
+
+ <para>Files in <filename>/etc/tmpfiles.d</filename>
+ override files with the same name in
+ <filename>/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d</filename> and
+ <filename>/run/tmpfiles.d</filename>. Files in
+ <filename>/run/tmpfiles.d</filename> override files
+ with the same name in
+ <filename>/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d</filename>. Packages
should install their configuration files in
- <filename>/usr/lib/</filename>. Files in
- <filename>/etc/</filename> are reserved for the local
- administrator, who may use this logic to override the
- configuration files installed by vendor packages. All
- configuration files are sorted by their filename in
- lexicographic order, regardless in which of the
- directories they reside. If multiple files specify the
- same path, the entry in the file with the lexicographically
- earliest name will be applied, all all other conflicting
- entries logged as errors.</para>
+ <filename>/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d</filename>. Files in
+ <filename>/etc/tmpfiles.d</filename> are reserved for
+ the local administrator, who may use this logic to
+ override the configuration files installed by vendor
+ packages. All configuration files are sorted by their
+ filename in lexicographic order, regardless of which
+ of the directories they reside in. If multiple files
+ specify the same path, the entry in the file with the
+ lexicographically earliest name will be applied, all
+ all other conflicting entries logged as errors.</para>
<para>If the administrator wants to disable a
configuration file supplied by the vendor, the
same filename.</para>
<para>The configuration format is one line per path
- containing action, path, mode, ownership, age and argument
+ containing type, path, mode, ownership, age, and argument
fields:</para>
- <programlisting>Type Path Mode UID GID Age Argument
+ <programlisting>#Type Path Mode UID GID Age Argument
d /run/user 0755 root root 10d -
L /tmp/foobar - - - - /dev/null</programlisting>
-
<refsect2>
<title>Type</title>
+ <para>The type consists of a single letter and
+ optionally an exclamation mark.</para>
+
<para>The following line types are understood:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>f</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create a file if it does not exist yet (optionally writing a short string into it, if the argument parameter is passed)</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create a file if it does not exist yet. If the argument parameter is given, it will be written to the file.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>F</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create or truncate a file (optionally writing a short string into it, if the argument parameter is passed)</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create or truncate a file. If the argument parameter is given, it will be written to the file.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>d</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create a directory if it does not exist yet</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create a directory if it does not exist yet.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>D</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create or empty a directory</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create or empty a directory.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>p</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create a named pipe (FIFO) if it does not exist yet</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create a named pipe (FIFO) if it does not exist yet.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>L</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create a symlink if it does not exist yet</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create a symlink if it does not exist yet.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>c</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create a character device node if it does not exist yet</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create a character device node if it does not exist yet.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>b</varname></term>
- <listitem><para>Create a block device node if it does not exist yet</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Create a block device node if it does not exist yet.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>m</varname></term>
<listitem><para>If the
- specified file path exists
+ specified file path exists,
adjust its access mode, group
and user to the specified
values and reset the SELinux
- label. If it doesn't exist do
+ security context. If it does not exist, do
nothing.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
as controlled with the Age
parameter. Note that lines of
this type do not influence the
- effect of r or R lines. Lines
- of this type accept
+ effect of <varname>r</varname>
+ or <varname>R</varname> lines.
+ Lines of this type accept
shell-style globs in place of
- normal path
- names.</para></listitem>
+ normal path names.
+ </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
during cleaning. Use this type
to exclude paths from clean-up
as controlled with the Age
- parameter. Unlike x this
+ parameter. Unlike
+ <varname>x</varname>, this
parameter will not exclude the
- content if path is a directory,
- but only directory itself.
- Note that lines of this type do
- not influence the effect of r
- or R lines. Lines of this type
- accept shell-style globs in
- place of normal path
- names.</para></listitem>
+ content if path is a
+ directory, but only directory
+ itself. Note that lines of
+ this type do not influence the
+ effect of <varname>r</varname>
+ or <varname>R</varname> lines.
+ Lines of this type accept
+ shell-style globs in place of
+ normal path names.
+ </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>r</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Remove a file
- or directory if it
- exists. This may not be used
- to remove non-empty
- directories, use R for
- that. Lines of this type
- accept shell-style globs in
- place of normal path
+ or directory if it exists.
+ This may not be used to remove
+ non-empty directories, use
+ <varname>R</varname> for that.
+ Lines of this type accept
+ shell-style globs in place of
+ normal path
names.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>z</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Restore
- SELinux security context label
+ SELinux security context
and set ownership and access
mode of a file or directory if
it exists. Lines of this type
<term><varname>Z</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Recursively
restore SELinux security
- context label and set
+ context and set
ownership and access mode of a
path and all its
subdirectories (if it is a
names.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
+
+ <para>If the exclamation mark is used, this
+ line is only safe of execute during boot, and
+ can break a running system. Lines without the
+ exclamation mark are presumed to be safe to
+ execute at any time, e.g. on package upgrades.
+ <command>systemd-tmpfiles</command> will
+ execute line with an exclamation mark only if
+ option <option>--boot</option> is given.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>For example:
+ <programlisting># Make sure these are created by default so that nobody else can
+d /tmp/.X11-unix 1777 root root 10d
+
+# Unlink the X11 lock files
+r! /tmp/.X[0-9]*-lock</programlisting>
+ The second line in contrast to the first one
+ would break a running system, and will only be
+ executed with <option>--boot</option>.</para>
</refsect2>
<refsect2>
<para>The file access mode to use when
creating this file or directory. If omitted or
when set to -, the default is used: 0755 for
- directories, 0644 for all other file
- objects. For z, Z lines, if omitted or when set
- to -, the file access mode will not be
- modified. This parameter is ignored for x, r,
- R, L lines.</para>
+ directories, 0644 for all other file objects.
+ For <varname>z</varname>, <varname>Z</varname>
+ lines, if omitted or when set to
+ <literal>-</literal>, the file access mode
+ will not be modified. This parameter is
+ ignored for <varname>x</varname>,
+ <varname>r</varname>, <varname>R</varname>,
+ <varname>L</varname> lines.</para>
</refsect2>
<refsect2>
<para>The user and group to use for this file
or directory. This may either be a numeric
user/group ID or a user or group name. If
- omitted or when set to -, the default 0 (root)
- is used. For z, Z lines, when omitted or when set to -,
- the file ownership will not be modified.
- These parameters are ignored for x, r, R, L lines.</para>
+ omitted or when set to <literal>-</literal>,
+ the default 0 (root) is used. For
+ <varname>z</varname>, <varname>Z</varname>
+ lines, when omitted or when set to -, the file
+ ownership will not be modified. These
+ parameters are ignored for
+ <varname>x</varname>, <varname>r</varname>,
+ <varname>R</varname>, <varname>L</varname>
+ lines.</para>
</refsect2>
<refsect2>
<para>When the age is set to zero, the files are cleaned
unconditionally.</para>
- <para>The age field only applies to lines starting with
- d, D and x. If omitted or set to -, no automatic clean-up
- is done.</para>
+ <para>The age field only applies to lines
+ starting with <varname>d</varname>,
+ <varname>D</varname>, and
+ <varname>x</varname>. If omitted or set to
+ <literal>-</literal>, no automatic clean-up is
+ done.</para>
<para>If the age field starts with a tilde
- character (~), the clean-up is only applied to
- files and directories one level inside the
- directory specified, but not the files and
- directories immediately inside it.</para>
+ character <literal>~</literal>, the clean-up
+ is only applied to files and directories one
+ level inside the directory specified, but not
+ the files and directories immediately inside
+ it.</para>
</refsect2>
<refsect2>
<title>Argument</title>
- <para>For L lines determines the destination
- path of the symlink. For c, b determines the
+ <para>For <varname>L</varname> lines
+ determines the destination path of the
+ symlink. For <varname>c</varname>,
+ <varname>b</varname> determines the
major/minor of the device node, with major and
- minor formatted as integers, separated by :,
- e.g. "1:3". For f, F, w may be used to specify
- a short string that is written to the file,
- suffixed by a newline. Ignored for all other
- lines.</para>
+ minor formatted as integers, separated by
+ <literal>:</literal>, e.g.
+ <literal>1:3</literal>. For
+ <varname>f</varname>, <varname>F</varname>,
+ and <varname>w</varname> may be used to
+ specify a short string that is written to the
+ file, suffixed by a newline. Ignored for all
+ other lines.</para>
</refsect2>
</refsect1>
<title>/etc/tmpfiles.d/screen.conf example</title>
<para><command>screen</command> needs two directories created at boot with specific modes and ownership.</para>
- <programlisting>d /var/run/screens 1777 root root 10d
-d /var/run/uscreens 0755 root root 10d12h</programlisting>
+ <programlisting>d /run/screens 1777 root root 10d
+d /run/uscreens 0755 root root 10d12h</programlisting>
</example>
<example>
<title>/etc/tmpfiles.d/abrt.conf example</title>
<para>
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-tmpfiles</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
- <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-delta</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-delta</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
</para>
</refsect1>