NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | CONFIGURATION FORMAT | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

TMPFILES.D(5)                    tmpfiles.d                    TMPFILES.D(5)

NAME         top

       tmpfiles.d - Configuration for creation, deletion and cleaning of
       volatile and temporary files

SYNOPSIS         top

       /etc/tmpfiles.d/*.conf
       /run/tmpfiles.d/*.conf
       /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/*.conf

DESCRIPTION         top

       systemd-tmpfiles uses the configuration files from the above
       directories to describe the creation, cleaning and removal of
       volatile and temporary files and directories which usually reside in
       directories such as /run or /tmp.
       Volatile and temporary files and directories are those located in
       /run (and its alias /var/run), /tmp, /var/tmp, the API file systems
       such as /sys or /proc, as well as some other directories below /var.
       System daemons frequently require private runtime directories below
       /run to place communication sockets and similar in. For these,
       consider declaring them in their unit files using RuntimeDirectory=
       (see systemd.exec(5) for details), if this is feasible.

CONFIGURATION FORMAT         top

       Each configuration file shall be named in the style of package.conf
       or package-part.conf. The second variant should be used when it is
       desirable to make it easy to override just this part of
       configuration.
       Files in /etc/tmpfiles.d override files with the same name in
       /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d and /run/tmpfiles.d. Files in /run/tmpfiles.d
       override files with the same name in /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d. Packages
       should install their configuration files in /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d.
       Files in /etc/tmpfiles.d 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 other conflicting entries will be logged as errors.
       When two lines are prefix and suffix of each other, then the prefix
       is always processed first, the suffix later. Lines that take globs
       are applied after those accepting no globs. If multiple operations
       shall be applied on the same file, (such as ACL, xattr, file
       attribute adjustments), these are always done in the same fixed
       order. Otherwise, the files/directories are processed in the order
       they are listed.
       If the administrator wants to disable a configuration file supplied
       by the vendor, the recommended way is to place a symlink to /dev/null
       in /etc/tmpfiles.d/ bearing the same filename.
       The configuration format is one line per path containing type, path,
       mode, ownership, age, and argument fields:
           #Type Path        Mode UID  GID  Age Argument
           d     /run/user   0755 root root 10d -
           L     /tmp/foobar -    -    -    -   /dev/null
       Fields may be enclosed within quotes and contain C-style escapes.
   Type
       The type consists of a single letter and optionally an exclamation
       mark.
       The following line types are understood:
       f
           Create a file if it does not exist yet. If the argument parameter
           is given, it will be written to the file. Does not follow
           symlinks.
       F
           Create or truncate a file. If the argument parameter is given, it
           will be written to the file. Does not follow symlinks.
       w
           Write the argument parameter to a file, if the file exists. Lines
           of this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal path
           names. The argument parameter will be written without a trailing
           newline. C-style backslash escapes are interpreted. Follows
           symlinks.
       d
           Create a directory. The mode and ownership will be adjusted if
           specified and the directory already exists. Contents of this
           directory are subject to time based cleanup if the age argument
           is specified.
       D
           Similar to d, but in addition the contents of the directory will
           be removed when --remove is used.
       e
           Similar to d, but the directory will not be created if it does
           not exist. Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place
           of normal path names. For this entry to be useful, at least one
           of the mode, uid, gid, or age arguments must be specified, since
           otherwise this entry has no effect. If the age argument is "0",
           contents of the directory will be unconditionally deleted every
           time systemd-tmpfiles --clean is run. This can be useful when
           combined with !, see the examples.
       v
           Create a subvolume if the path does not exist yet, the file
           system supports subvolumes (btrfs), and the system itself is
           installed into a subvolume (specifically: the root directory / is
           itself a subvolume). Otherwise, create a normal directory, in the
           same way as d. A subvolume created with this line type is not
           assigned to any higher-level quota group. For that, use q or Q,
           which allow creating simple quota group hierarchies, see below.
       q
           Similar to v. However, makes sure that the subvolume will be
           assigned to the same higher-level quota groups as the subvolume
           it has been created in. This ensures that higher-level limits and
           accounting applied to the parent subvolume also include the
           specified subvolume. On non-btrfs file systems, this line type is
           identical to d. If the subvolume already exists and is already
           assigned to one or more higher level quota groups, no change to
           the quota hierarchy is made. Also see Q below. See
           btrfs-qgroup(8) for details about the btrfs quota group concept.
       Q
           Similar to q. However, instead of copying the higher-level quota
           group assignments from the parent as-is, the lowest quota group
           of the parent subvolume is determined that is not the leaf quota
           group. Then, an "intermediary" quota group is inserted that is
           one level below this level, and shares the same ID part as the
           specified subvolume. If no higher-level quota group exists for
           the parent subvolume, a new quota group at level 255 sharing the
           same ID as the specified subvolume is inserted instead. This new
           intermediary quota group is then assigned to the parent
           subvolume's higher-level quota groups, and the specified
           subvolume's leaf quota group is assigned to it.
           Effectively, this has a similar effect as q, however introduces a
           new higher-level quota group for the specified subvolume that may
           be used to enforce limits and accounting to the specified
           subvolume and children subvolume created within it. Thus, by
           creating subvolumes only via q and Q, a concept of "subtree
           quotas" is implemented. Each subvolume for which Q is set will
           get a "subtree" quota group created, and all child subvolumes
           created within it will be assigned to it. Each subvolume for
           which q is set will not get such a "subtree" quota group, but it
           is ensured that they are added to the same "subtree" quota group
           as their immediate parents.
           It is recommended to use Q for subvolumes that typically contain
           further subvolumes, and where it is desirable to have accounting
           and quota limits on all child subvolumes together. Examples for Q
           are typically /home or /var/lib/machines. In contrast, q should
           be used for subvolumes that either usually do not include further
           subvolumes or where no accounting and quota limits are needed
           that apply to all child subvolumes together. Examples for q are
           typically /var or /var/tmp. As with Q, q has no effect on the
           quota group hierarchy if the subvolume exists and already has at
           least one higher-level quota group assigned.
       p, p+
           Create a named pipe (FIFO) if it does not exist yet. If suffixed
           with + and a file already exists where the pipe is to be created,
           it will be removed and be replaced by the pipe.
       L, L+
           Create a symlink if it does not exist yet. If suffixed with + and
           a file already exists where the symlink is to be created, it will
           be removed and be replaced by the symlink. If the argument is
           omitted, symlinks to files with the same name residing in the
           directory /usr/share/factory/ are created. Note that permissions
           and ownership on symlinks are ignored.
       c, c+
           Create a character device node if it does not exist yet. If
           suffixed with + and a file already exists where the device node
           is to be created, it will be removed and be replaced by the
           device node. It is recommended to suffix this entry with an
           exclamation mark to only create static device nodes at boot, as
           udev will not manage static device nodes that are created at
           runtime.
       b, b+
           Create a block device node if it does not exist yet. If suffixed
           with + and a file already exists where the device node is to be
           created, it will be removed and be replaced by the device node.
           It is recommended to suffix this entry with an exclamation mark
           to only create static device nodes at boot, as udev will not
           manage static device nodes that are created at runtime.
       C
           Recursively copy a file or directory, if the destination files or
           directories do not exist yet. Note that this command will not
           descend into subdirectories if the destination directory already
           exists. Instead, the entire copy operation is skipped. If the
           argument is omitted, files from the source directory
           /usr/share/factory/ with the same name are copied. Does not
           follow symlinks.
       x
           Ignore a path during cleaning. Use this type to exclude paths
           from clean-up 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 shell-style globs in place of normal
           path names.
       X
           Ignore a path during cleaning. Use this type to exclude paths
           from clean-up as controlled with the Age parameter. Unlike x,
           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.
       r
           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 names. Does not
           follow symlinks.
       R
           Recursively remove a path and all its subdirectories (if it is a
           directory). Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place
           of normal path names. Does not follow symlinks.
       z
           Adjust the access mode, group and user, and restore the SELinux
           security context of a file or directory, if it exists. Lines of
           this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal path names.
           Does not follow symlinks.
       Z
           Recursively set the access mode, group and user, and restore the
           SELinux security context of a file or directory if it exists, as
           well as of its subdirectories and the files contained therein (if
           applicable). Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place
           of normal path names. Does not follow symlinks.
       t
           Set extended attributes. Lines of this type accept shell-style
           globs in place of normal path names. This can be useful for
           setting SMACK labels. Does not follow symlinks.
       T
           Recursively set extended attributes. Lines of this type accept
           shell-style globs in place of normal path names. This can be
           useful for setting SMACK labels. Does not follow symlinks.
       h
           Set file/directory attributes. Lines of this type accept
           shell-style globs in place of normal path names.
           The format of the argument field is [+-=][aAcCdDeijsStTu] . The
           prefix + (the default one) causes the attribute(s) to be added; -
           causes the attribute(s) to be removed; = causes the attributes to
           be set exactly as the following letters. The letters
           "aAcCdDeijsStTu" select the new attributes for the files, see
           chattr(1) for further information.
           Passing only = as argument resets all the file attributes listed
           above. It has to be pointed out that the = prefix limits itself
           to the attributes corresponding to the letters listed here. All
           other attributes will be left untouched. Does not follow
           symlinks.
       H
           Recursively set file/directory attributes. Lines of this type
           accept shell-style globs in place of normal path names. Does not
           follow symlinks.
       a, a+
           Set POSIX ACLs (access control lists). If suffixed with +, the
           specified entries will be added to the existing set.
           systemd-tmpfiles will automatically add the required base entries
           for user and group based on the access mode of the file, unless
           base entries already exist or are explicitly specified. The mask
           will be added if not specified explicitly or already present.
           Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal
           path names. This can be useful for allowing additional access to
           certain files. Does not follow symlinks.
       A, A+
           Same as a and a+, but recursive. Does not follow symlinks.
       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.  systemd-tmpfiles will execute line with an
       exclamation mark only if option --boot is given.
       For example:
           # 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
       The second line in contrast to the first one would break a running
       system, and will only be executed with --boot.
   Path
       The file system path specification supports simple specifier
       expansion. The following expansions are understood:
       Table 1. Specifiers available
       ┌──────────┬────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
       │Specifier Meaning        Details             │
       ├──────────┼────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
       │"%m"      │ Machine ID     │ The machine ID of   │
       │          │                │ the running system, │
       │          │                │ formatted as        │
       │          │                │ string. See         │
       │          │                │ machine-id(5) for   │
       │          │                │ more information.   │
       ├──────────┼────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
       │"%b"      │ Boot ID        │ The boot ID of the  │
       │          │                │ running system,     │
       │          │                │ formatted as        │
       │          │                │ string. See         │
       │          │                │ random(4) for more  │
       │          │                │ information.        │
       ├──────────┼────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
       │"%H"      │ Host name      │ The hostname of the │
       │          │                │ running system.     │
       ├──────────┼────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
       │"%v"      │ Kernel release │ Identical to uname  │
       │          │                │ -r output.          │
       ├──────────┼────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
       │"%%"      │ Escaped %      │ Single percent      │
       │          │                │ sign.               │
       └──────────┴────────────────┴─────────────────────┘
   Mode
       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, t, and a lines.
       Optionally, if prefixed with "~", the access mode is masked based on
       the already set access bits for existing file or directories: if the
       existing file has all executable bits unset, all executable bits are
       removed from the new access mode, too. Similarly, if all read bits
       are removed from the old access mode, they will be removed from the
       new access mode too, and if all write bits are removed, they will be
       removed from the new access mode too. In addition, the
       sticky/SUID/SGID bit is removed unless applied to a directory. This
       functionality is particularly useful in conjunction with Z.
   UID, GID
       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 and Z lines,
       when omitted or when set to "-", the file ownership will not be
       modified. These parameters are ignored for x, r, R, L, t, and a
       lines.
   Age
       The date field, when set, is used to decide what files to delete when
       cleaning. If a file or directory is older than the current time minus
       the age field, it is deleted. The field format is a series of
       integers each followed by one of the following suffixes for the
       respective time units: s, m or min, h, d, w, ms, and us, meaning
       seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, milliseconds, and microseconds,
       respectively. Full names of the time units can be used too.
       If multiple integers and units are specified, the time values are
       summed. If an integer is given without a unit, s is assumed.
       When the age is set to zero, the files are cleaned unconditionally.
       The age field only applies to lines starting with d, D, e, v, q, Q,
       C, x and X. If omitted or set to "-", no automatic clean-up is done.
       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.
   Argument
       For L lines determines the destination path of the symlink. For c and
       b, determines the major/minor of the device node, with major and
       minor formatted as integers, separated by ":", e.g.  "1:3". For f, F,
       and w, the argument may be used to specify a short string that is
       written to the file, suffixed by a newline. For C, specifies the
       source file or directory. For t and T, determines extended attributes
       to be set. For a and A, determines ACL attributes to be set. For h
       and H, determines the file attributes to set. Ignored for all other
       lines.

EXAMPLES         top

       Example 1. Create directories with specific mode and ownership
       screen(1), needs two directories created at boot with specific modes
       and ownership:
           # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/screen.conf
           d /run/screens  1777 root screen 10d
           d /run/uscreens 0755 root screen 10d12h
       Contents of /run/screens and /run/uscreens will cleaned up after 10
       and 10½ days, respectively.
       Example 2. Create a directory with a SMACK attribute
           D /run/cups - - - -
           t /run/cups - - - - security.SMACK64=printing user.attr-with-spaces="foo bar"
       The directory will be owned by root and have default mode. Its
       contents are not subject to time based cleanup, but will be
       obliterated when systemd-tmpfiles --remove runs.
       Example 3. Create a directory and prevent its contents from cleanup
       abrt(1), needs a directory created at boot with specific mode and
       ownership and its content should be preserved from the automatic
       cleanup applied to the contents of /var/tmp:
           # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tmp.conf
           d /var/tmp 1777 root root 30d
           # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/abrt.conf
           d /var/tmp/abrt 0755 abrt abrt -
       Example 4. Apply clean up during boot and based on time
           # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/dnf.conf
           r! /var/cache/dnf/*/*/download_lock.pid
           r! /var/cache/dnf/*/*/metadata_lock.pid
           r! /var/lib/dnf/rpmdb_lock.pid
           e  /var/chache/dnf/ - - - 30d
       The lock files will be removed during boot. Any files and directories
       in /var/chache/dnf/ will be removed after they have not been accessed
       in 30 days.
       Example 5. Empty the contents of a cache directory on boot
           # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/krb5rcache.conf
           e! /var/cache/krb5rcache - - - 0
       Any files and subdirectories in /var/cache/krb5rcache/ will be
       removed on boot. The directory will not be created.

SEE ALSO         top

       systemd(1), systemd-tmpfiles(8), systemd-delta(1), systemd.exec(5),
       attr(5), getfattr(1), setfattr(1), setfacl(1), getfacl(1), chattr(1),
       btrfs-subvolume(8), btrfs-qgroup(8)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service manager)
       project.  Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩.  If you have a bug
       report for this manual page, see 
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩.  This
       page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository 
       ⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2017-07-05.  If you dis‐
       cover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
       believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or
       you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
       COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail
       to man-pages@man7.org
systemd 234                                                    TMPFILES.D(5)

Pages that refer to this page: systemd.exec(5)file-hierarchy(7)systemd.directives(7)systemd.index(7)systemd-tmpfiles(8)