1TMPFILES.D(5) tmpfiles.d TMPFILES.D(5)
2
6 tmpfiles.d - Configuration for creation, deletion and cleaning of
7 volatile and temporary files
8
10 /etc/tmpfiles.d/*.conf
11 /run/tmpfiles.d/*.conf
12 /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/*.conf
13 ~/.config/user-tmpfiles.d/*.conf
16 $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/user-tmpfiles.d/*.conf
17 ~/.local/share/user-tmpfiles.d/*.conf
18 ...
19 /usr/share/user-tmpfiles.d/*.conf
20
23 systemd-tmpfiles uses the configuration files from the above
24 directories to describe the creation, cleaning and removal of volatile
25 and temporary files and directories which usually reside in directories
26 such as /run or /tmp.
27 Volatile and temporary files and directories are those located in /run
29 (and its alias /var/run), /tmp, /var/tmp, the API file systems such as
30 /sys or /proc, as well as some other directories below /var.
31 System daemons frequently require private runtime directories below
33 /run to place communication sockets and similar in. For these, consider
34 declaring them in their unit files using RuntimeDirectory= (see
35 systemd.exec(5) for details), if this is feasible.
36
38 Each configuration file shall be named in the style of package.conf or
39 package-part.conf. The second variant should be used when it is
40 desirable to make it easy to override just this part of configuration.
41 Files in /etc/tmpfiles.d override files with the same name in
43 /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d and /run/tmpfiles.d. Files in /run/tmpfiles.d
44 override files with the same name in /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d. Packages
45 should install their configuration files in /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d. Files
46 in /etc/tmpfiles.d are reserved for the local administrator, who may
47 use this logic to override the configuration files installed by vendor
48 packages. All configuration files are sorted by their filename in
49 lexicographic order, regardless of which of the directories they reside
50 in. If multiple files specify the same path, the entry in the file with
51 the lexicographically earliest name will be applied. All other
52 conflicting entries will be logged as errors. When two lines are prefix
53 and suffix of each other, then the prefix is always processed first,
54 the suffix later. Lines that take globs are applied after those
55 accepting no globs. If multiple operations shall be applied on the same
56 file, (such as ACL, xattr, file attribute adjustments), these are
57 always done in the same fixed order. Otherwise, the files/directories
58 are processed in the order they are listed.
59 If the administrator wants to disable a configuration file supplied by
61 the vendor, the recommended way is to place a symlink to /dev/null in
62 /etc/tmpfiles.d/ bearing the same filename.
63
65 The configuration format is one line per path containing type, path,
66 mode, ownership, age, and argument fields:
67 #Type Path Mode UID GID Age Argument
69 d /run/user 0755 root root 10d -
70 L /tmp/foobar - - - - /dev/null
71 Fields may be enclosed within quotes and contain C-style escapes.
73 Type
75 The type consists of a single letter and optionally an exclamation
76 mark.
77 The following line types are understood:
79 f
81 Create a file if it does not exist yet. If the argument parameter
82 is given and the file did not exist yet, it will be written to the
83 file. Does not follow symlinks.
84 F
86 Create or truncate a file. If the argument parameter is given, it
87 will be written to the file. Does not follow symlinks.
88 w
90 Write the argument parameter to a file, if the file exists. Lines
91 of this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal path
92 names. The argument parameter will be written without a trailing
93 newline. C-style backslash escapes are interpreted. Follows
94 symlinks.
95 d
97 Create a directory. The mode and ownership will be adjusted if
98 specified and the directory already exists. Contents of this
99 directory are subject to time based cleanup if the age argument is
100 specified.
101 D
103 Similar to d, but in addition the contents of the directory will be
104 removed when --remove is used.
105 e
107 Similar to d, but the directory will not be created if it does not
108 exist. Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place of
109 normal path names. For this entry to be useful, at least one of the
110 mode, uid, gid, or age arguments must be specified, since otherwise
111 this entry has no effect. If the age argument is "0", contents of
112 the directory will be unconditionally deleted every time
113 systemd-tmpfiles --clean is run. This can be useful when combined
114 with !, see the examples.
115 v
117 Create a subvolume if the path does not exist yet, the file system
118 supports subvolumes (btrfs), and the system itself is installed
119 into a subvolume (specifically: the root directory / is itself a
120 subvolume). Otherwise, create a normal directory, in the same way
121 as d. A subvolume created with this line type is not assigned to
122 any higher-level quota group. For that, use q or Q, which allow
123 creating simple quota group hierarchies, see below.
124 q
126 Similar to v. However, makes sure that the subvolume will be
127 assigned to the same higher-level quota groups as the subvolume it
128 has been created in. This ensures that higher-level limits and
129 accounting applied to the parent subvolume also include the
130 specified subvolume. On non-btrfs file systems, this line type is
131 identical to d. If the subvolume already exists and is already
132 assigned to one or more higher level quota groups, no change to the
133 quota hierarchy is made. Also see Q below. See btrfs-qgroup(8) for
134 details about the btrfs quota group concept.
135 Q
137 Similar to q. However, instead of copying the higher-level quota
138 group assignments from the parent as-is, the lowest quota group of
139 the parent subvolume is determined that is not the leaf quota
140 group. Then, an "intermediary" quota group is inserted that is one
141 level below this level, and shares the same ID part as the
142 specified subvolume. If no higher-level quota group exists for the
143 parent subvolume, a new quota group at level 255 sharing the same
144 ID as the specified subvolume is inserted instead. This new
145 intermediary quota group is then assigned to the parent subvolume's
146 higher-level quota groups, and the specified subvolume's leaf quota
147 group is assigned to it.
148 Effectively, this has a similar effect as q, however introduces a
150 new higher-level quota group for the specified subvolume that may
151 be used to enforce limits and accounting to the specified subvolume
152 and children subvolume created within it. Thus, by creating
153 subvolumes only via q and Q, a concept of "subtree quotas" is
154 implemented. Each subvolume for which Q is set will get a "subtree"
155 quota group created, and all child subvolumes created within it
156 will be assigned to it. Each subvolume for which q is set will not
157 get such a "subtree" quota group, but it is ensured that they are
158 added to the same "subtree" quota group as their immediate parents.
159 It is recommended to use Q for subvolumes that typically contain
161 further subvolumes, and where it is desirable to have accounting
162 and quota limits on all child subvolumes together. Examples for Q
163 are typically /home or /var/lib/machines. In contrast, q should be
164 used for subvolumes that either usually do not include further
165 subvolumes or where no accounting and quota limits are needed that
166 apply to all child subvolumes together. Examples for q are
167 typically /var or /var/tmp. As with Q, q has no effect on the quota
168 group hierarchy if the subvolume exists and already has at least
169 one higher-level quota group assigned.
170 p, p+
172 Create a named pipe (FIFO) if it does not exist yet. If suffixed
173 with + and a file already exists where the pipe is to be created,
174 it will be removed and be replaced by the pipe.
175 L, L+
177 Create a symlink if it does not exist yet. If suffixed with + and a
178 file or directory already exists where the symlink is to be
179 created, it will be removed and be replaced by the symlink. If the
180 argument is omitted, symlinks to files with the same name residing
181 in the directory /usr/share/factory/ are created. Note that
182 permissions and ownership on symlinks are ignored.
183 c, c+
185 Create a character device node if it does not exist yet. If
186 suffixed with + and a file already exists where the device node is
187 to be created, it will be removed and be replaced by the device
188 node. It is recommended to suffix this entry with an exclamation
189 mark to only create static device nodes at boot, as udev will not
190 manage static device nodes that are created at runtime.
191 b, b+
193 Create a block device node if it does not exist yet. If suffixed
194 with + and a file already exists where the device node is to be
195 created, it will be removed and be replaced by the device node. It
196 is recommended to suffix this entry with an exclamation mark to
197 only create static device nodes at boot, as udev will not manage
198 static device nodes that are created at runtime.
199 C
201 Recursively copy a file or directory, if the destination files or
202 directories do not exist yet. Note that this command will not
203 descend into subdirectories if the destination directory already
204 exists. Instead, the entire copy operation is skipped. If the
205 argument is omitted, files from the source directory
206 /usr/share/factory/ with the same name are copied. Does not follow
207 symlinks.
208 x
210 Ignore a path during cleaning. Use this type to exclude paths from
211 clean-up as controlled with the Age parameter. Note that lines of
212 this type do not influence the effect of r or R lines. Lines of
213 this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal path names.
214 X
216 Ignore a path during cleaning. Use this type to exclude paths from
217 clean-up as controlled with the Age parameter. Unlike x, this
218 parameter will not exclude the content if path is a directory, but
219 only directory itself. Note that lines of this type do not
220 influence the effect of r or R lines. Lines of this type accept
221 shell-style globs in place of normal path names.
222 r
224 Remove a file or directory if it exists. This may not be used to
225 remove non-empty directories, use R for that. Lines of this type
226 accept shell-style globs in place of normal path names. Does not
227 follow symlinks.
228 R
230 Recursively remove a path and all its subdirectories (if it is a
231 directory). Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place of
232 normal path names. Does not follow symlinks.
233 z
235 Adjust the access mode, group and user, and restore the SELinux
236 security context of a file or directory, if it exists. Lines of
237 this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal path names.
238 Does not follow symlinks.
239 Z
241 Recursively set the access mode, group and user, and restore the
242 SELinux security context of a file or directory if it exists, as
243 well as of its subdirectories and the files contained therein (if
244 applicable). Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place
245 of normal path names. Does not follow symlinks.
246 t
248 Set extended attributes. Lines of this type accept shell-style
249 globs in place of normal path names. This can be useful for setting
250 SMACK labels. Does not follow symlinks.
251 T
253 Recursively set extended attributes. Lines of this type accept
254 shell-style globs in place of normal path names. This can be useful
255 for setting SMACK labels. Does not follow symlinks.
256 h
258 Set file/directory attributes. Lines of this type accept
259 shell-style globs in place of normal path names.
260 The format of the argument field is [+-=][aAcCdDeijsStTu] . The
262 prefix + (the default one) causes the attribute(s) to be added; -
263 causes the attribute(s) to be removed; = causes the attributes to
264 be set exactly as the following letters. The letters
265 "aAcCdDeijsStTu" select the new attributes for the files, see
266 chattr(1) for further information.
267 Passing only = as argument resets all the file attributes listed
269 above. It has to be pointed out that the = prefix limits itself to
270 the attributes corresponding to the letters listed here. All other
271 attributes will be left untouched. Does not follow symlinks.
272 H
274 Recursively set file/directory attributes. Lines of this type
275 accept shell-style globs in place of normal path names. Does not
276 follow symlinks.
277 a, a+
279 Set POSIX ACLs (access control lists). If suffixed with +, the
280 specified entries will be added to the existing set.
281 systemd-tmpfiles will automatically add the required base entries
282 for user and group based on the access mode of the file, unless
283 base entries already exist or are explicitly specified. The mask
284 will be added if not specified explicitly or already present. Lines
285 of this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal path
286 names. This can be useful for allowing additional access to certain
287 files. Does not follow symlinks.
288 A, A+
290 Same as a and a+, but recursive. Does not follow symlinks.
291 If the exclamation mark is used, this line is only safe of execute
293 during boot, and can break a running system. Lines without the
294 exclamation mark are presumed to be safe to execute at any time, e.g.
295 on package upgrades. systemd-tmpfiles will execute line with an
296 exclamation mark only if option --boot is given.
297 For example:
299 # Make sure these are created by default so that nobody else can
301 d /tmp/.X11-unix 1777 root root 10d
302 # Unlink the X11 lock files
304 r! /tmp/.X[0-9]*-lock
305 The second line in contrast to the first one would break a running
307 system, and will only be executed with --boot.
308 Note that for all line types that result in creation of any kind of
310 file node (i.e. f/F, d/D/v/q/Q, p, L, c/b and C) leading directories
311 are implicitly created if needed, owned by root with an access mode of
312 0755. In order to create them with different modes or ownership make
313 sure to add appropriate d lines.
314 Path
316 The file system path specification supports simple specifier expansion,
317 see below. The path (after expansion) must be absolute.
318 Mode
320 The file access mode to use when creating this file or directory. If
321 omitted or when set to "-", the default is used: 0755 for directories,
322 0644 for all other file objects. For z, Z lines, if omitted or when set
323 to "-", the file access mode will not be modified. This parameter is
324 ignored for x, r, R, L, t, and a lines.
325 Optionally, if prefixed with "~", the access mode is masked based on
327 the already set access bits for existing file or directories: if the
328 existing file has all executable bits unset, all executable bits are
329 removed from the new access mode, too. Similarly, if all read bits are
330 removed from the old access mode, they will be removed from the new
331 access mode too, and if all write bits are removed, they will be
332 removed from the new access mode too. In addition, the sticky/SUID/SGID
333 bit is removed unless applied to a directory. This functionality is
334 particularly useful in conjunction with Z.
335 UID, GID
337 The user and group to use for this file or directory. This may either
338 be a numeric user/group ID or a user or group name. If omitted or when
339 set to "-", the default 0 (root) is used. For z and Z lines, when
340 omitted or when set to "-", the file ownership will not be modified.
341 These parameters are ignored for x, r, R, L, t, and a lines.
342 Age
344 The date field, when set, is used to decide what files to delete when
345 cleaning. If a file or directory is older than the current time minus
346 the age field, it is deleted. The field format is a series of integers
347 each followed by one of the following suffixes for the respective time
348 units: s, m or min, h, d, w, ms, and us, meaning seconds, minutes,
349 hours, days, weeks, milliseconds, and microseconds, respectively. Full
350 names of the time units can be used too.
351 If multiple integers and units are specified, the time values are
353 summed. If an integer is given without a unit, s is assumed.
354 When the age is set to zero, the files are cleaned unconditionally.
356 The age field only applies to lines starting with d, D, e, v, q, Q, C,
358 x and X. If omitted or set to "-", no automatic clean-up is done.
359 If the age field starts with a tilde character "~", the clean-up is
361 only applied to files and directories one level inside the directory
362 specified, but not the files and directories immediately inside it.
363 The age of a file system entry is determined from its last modification
365 timestamp (mtime), its last access timestamp (atime), and (except for
366 directories) its last status change timestamp (ctime). Any of these
367 three (or two) values will prevent cleanup if it is more recent than
368 the current time minus the age field.
369 Argument
371 For L lines determines the destination path of the symlink. For c and
372 b, determines the major/minor of the device node, with major and minor
373 formatted as integers, separated by ":", e.g. "1:3". For f, F, and w,
374 the argument may be used to specify a short string that is written to
375 the file, suffixed by a newline. For C, specifies the source file or
376 directory. For t and T, determines extended attributes to be set. For a
377 and A, determines ACL attributes to be set. For h and H, determines the
378 file attributes to set. Ignored for all other lines.
379 This field can contain specifiers, see below.
381
383 Specifiers can be used in the "path" and "argument" fields. An unknown
384 or unresolvable specifier is treated as invalid configuration. The
385 following expansions are understood:
386 Table 1. Specifiers available
388 ┌──────────┬─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
389 │Specifier │ Meaning │ Details │
390 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
391 │"%b" │ Boot ID │ The boot ID of the │
392 │ │ │ running system, │
393 │ │ │ formatted as │
394 │ │ │ string. See │
395 │ │ │ random(4) for more │
396 │ │ │ information. │
397 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
398 │"%C" │ System or user │ In --user mode, │
399 │ │ cache directory │ this is the same as │
400 │ │ │ $XDG_CACHE_HOME, │
401 │ │ │ and /var/cache │
402 │ │ │ otherwise. │
403 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
404 │"%h" │ User home directory │ This is the home │
405 │ │ │ directory of the │
406 │ │ │ user running the │
407 │ │ │ command. In case of │
408 │ │ │ the system instance │
409 │ │ │ this resolves to │
410 │ │ │ "/root". │
411 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
412 │"%H" │ Host name │ The hostname of the │
413 │ │ │ running system. │
414 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
415 │"%L" │ System or user log │ In --user mode, │
416 │ │ directory │ this is the same as │
417 │ │ │ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME │
418 │ │ │ with /log appended, │
419 │ │ │ and /var/log │
420 │ │ │ otherwise. │
421 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
422 │"%m" │ Machine ID │ The machine ID of │
423 │ │ │ the running system, │
424 │ │ │ formatted as │
425 │ │ │ string. See │
426 │ │ │ machine-id(5) for │
427 │ │ │ more information. │
428 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
429 │"%S" │ System or user │ In --user mode, │
430 │ │ state directory │ this is the same as │
431 │ │ │ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME, │
432 │ │ │ and /var/lib │
433 │ │ │ otherwise. │
434 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
435 │"%t" │ System or user │ In --user mode, │
436 │ │ runtime directory │ this is the same │
437 │ │ │ $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR, │
438 │ │ │ and /run otherwise. │
439 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
440 │"%T" │ Directory for │ This is either /tmp │
441 │ │ temporary files │ or the path │
442 │ │ │ "$TMPDIR", "$TEMP" │
443 │ │ │ or "$TMP" are set │
444 │ │ │ to. │
445 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
446 │"%u" │ User name │ This is the name of │
447 │ │ │ the user running │
448 │ │ │ the command. In │
449 │ │ │ case of the system │
450 │ │ │ instance this │
451 │ │ │ resolves to "root". │
452 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
453 │"%U" │ User UID │ This is the numeric │
454 │ │ │ UID of the user │
455 │ │ │ running the │
456 │ │ │ command. In case of │
457 │ │ │ the system instance │
458 │ │ │ this resolves to 0. │
459 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
460 │"%v" │ Kernel release │ Identical to uname │
461 │ │ │ -r output. │
462 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
463 │"%V" │ Directory for │ This is either │
464 │ │ larger and │ /var/tmp or the │
465 │ │ persistent │ path "$TMPDIR", │
466 │ │ temporary files │ "$TEMP" or "$TMP" │
467 │ │ │ are set to. │
468 ├──────────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
469 │"%%" │ Escaped "%" │ Single percent │
470 │ │ │ sign. │
471 └──────────┴─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┘
472
474 Example 1. Create directories with specific mode and ownership
475 screen(1), needs two directories created at boot with specific modes
477 and ownership:
478 # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/screen.conf
480 d /run/screens 1777 root screen 10d
481 d /run/uscreens 0755 root screen 10d12h
482 Contents of /run/screens and /run/uscreens will be cleaned up after 10
484 and 10½ days, respectively.
485 Example 2. Create a directory with a SMACK attribute
487 D /run/cups - - - -
489 t /run/cups - - - - security.SMACK64=printing user.attr-with-spaces="foo bar"
490 The directory will be owned by root and have default mode. Its contents
493 are not subject to time based cleanup, but will be obliterated when
494 systemd-tmpfiles --remove runs.
495 Example 3. Create a directory and prevent its contents from cleanup
497 abrt(1), needs a directory created at boot with specific mode and
499 ownership and its content should be preserved from the automatic
500 cleanup applied to the contents of /var/tmp:
501 # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tmp.conf
503 d /var/tmp 1777 root root 30d
504 # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/abrt.conf
506 d /var/tmp/abrt 0755 abrt abrt -
507 Example 4. Apply clean up during boot and based on time
509 # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/dnf.conf
511 r! /var/cache/dnf/*/*/download_lock.pid
512 r! /var/cache/dnf/*/*/metadata_lock.pid
513 r! /var/lib/dnf/rpmdb_lock.pid
514 e /var/cache/dnf/ - - - 30d
515 The lock files will be removed during boot. Any files and directories
517 in /var/cache/dnf/ will be removed after they have not been accessed in
518 30 days.
519 Example 5. Empty the contents of a cache directory on boot
521 # /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/krb5rcache.conf
523 e! /var/cache/krb5rcache - - - 0
524 Any files and subdirectories in /var/cache/krb5rcache/ will be removed
526 on boot. The directory will not be created.
527
529 systemd(1), systemd-tmpfiles(8), systemd-delta(1), systemd.exec(5),
530 attr(5), getfattr(1), setfattr(1), setfacl(1), getfacl(1), chattr(1),
531 btrfs-subvolume(8), btrfs-qgroup(8)
532systemd 239 TMPFILES.D(5)