tmpfiles.dsystemdtmpfiles.d5tmpfiles.dConfiguration for creation, deletion and cleaning of
volatile and temporary files/etc/tmpfiles.d/*.conf/run/tmpfiles.d/*.conf/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/*.conf~/.config/user-tmpfiles.d/*.conf$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/user-tmpfiles.d/*.conf~/.local/share/user-tmpfiles.d/*.conf…/usr/share/user-tmpfiles.d/*.confDescriptiontmpfiles.d configuration files provide a generic mechanism to define the
creation of regular files, directories, pipes, and device nodes, adjustments to
their access mode, ownership, attributes, quota assignments, and contents, and
finally their time-based removal. It is mostly commonly used for volatile and
temporary files and directories (such as those located under /run,
/tmp, /var/tmp, the API file systems such as
/sys or /proc, as well as some other directories below
/var).systemd-tmpfiles uses this configuration to create volatile files and
directories during boot and to do periodic cleanup afterwards. See
systemd-tmpfiles5 for
the description of systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service,
systemd-tmpfiles-cleanup.service, and associated units.System daemons frequently require private runtime directories below /run to
store communication sockets and similar. For these, is is better to use
RuntimeDirectory= in their unit files (see
systemd.exec5 for
details), if the flexibility provided by tmpfiles.d is not required. The advantages
are that the configuration required by the unit is centralized in one place, and that the lifetime of the
directory is tied to the lifetime of the service itself. Similarly, StateDirectory=,
CacheDirectory=, LogsDirectory=, and
ConfigurationDirectory= should be used to create directories under
/var/lib/, /var/cache/, /var/log/, and
/etc/. tmpfiles.d should be used for files whose lifetime is
independent of any service or requires more complicated configuration.Configuration Directories and PrecedenceEach 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 path and
suffix path of each other, then the prefix line is always created first, the suffix later (and if removal applies
to the line, the order is reversed: the suffix is removed first, the prefix 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. Except for those cases, 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.
Configuration File FormatThe configuration format is one line per path containing
type, path, mode, ownership, age, and argument fields:#Type Path Mode User Group Age Argument
d /run/user 0755 root root 10d -
L /tmp/foobar - - - - /dev/nullFields may be enclosed within quotes and contain C-style escapes.TypeThe type consists of a single letter and optionally an
exclamation mark and/or minus sign.The following line types are understood:fCreate a file if it does not exist yet. If the argument parameter is given and the file did
not exist yet, it will be written to the file. Does not follow symlinks.FCreate or truncate a file. If the argument
parameter is given, it will be written to the file. Does not follow symlinks.wWrite 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.dCreate a directory. The mode and ownership will be adjusted if specified. Contents
of this directory are subject to time based cleanup if the age argument is specified.
DSimilar to d, but in addition the contents of the directory will
be removed when is used.eAdjust the mode and ownership of existing directories and remove their contents
based on age.
Lines of this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal path names. Contents of the
directories are subject to time based cleanup if the age argument is specified. If the age argument
is 0, contents will be unconditionally deleted every time
systemd-tmpfiles --clean is run.For this entry to be useful, at least one of the mode, user, group, or age arguments must be
specified, since otherwise this entry has no effect. As an exception, an entry with no effect may
be useful when combined with !, see the examples.vCreate 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.qCreate a subvolume or directory the same as v, but assign the
subvolume to the same higher-level quota groups as the parent. 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, no change to the quota hierarchy is made, regardless of whether the
subvolume is already attached to a quota group or not. Also see Q below. See btrfs-qgroup8 for
details about the btrfs quota group concept.QCreate the subvolume or directory the same as v, but assign the
new subvolume to a new leaf quota group. Instead of copying the higher-level quota group
assignments from the parent as is done with q, 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 already exists, regardless of whether the subvolume already belong to a quota group or not.
pp+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.LL+Create a symlink if it does not exist
yet. If suffixed with + and a file or
directory 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.
cc+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.
bb+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.
CRecursively copy a file or directory, if the
destination files or directories do not exist yet or the
destination directory is empty. Note that this command will not
descend into subdirectories if the destination directory already
exists and is not empty. 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.xIgnore 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. XIgnore 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.
rRemove 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.RRecursively 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.zAdjust the access mode, user and group ownership, 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.ZRecursively set the access mode, user and group ownership, 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.tSet 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.TRecursively 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. hSet 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
chattr1 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.HRecursively set file/directory attributes. Lines
of this type accept shell-style globs in place of normal
path names. Does not follow symlinks.
aa+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.AA+Same as a and
a+, but recursive. Does not follow
symlinks.If the exclamation mark is used, this line is only safe to
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 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
.If the minus sign is used, this line failing to run
successfully during create (and only create) will not cause
the execution of systemd-tmpfiles to return
an error.For example:
# Modify sysfs but don't fail if we are in a container with a read-only /proc
w- /proc/sys/vm/swappiness - - - - 10Note that for all line types that result in creation of any kind of file node
(i.e. f/F,
d/D/v/q/Q,
p, L, c/b and C)
leading directories are implicitly created if needed, owned by root with an access mode of 0755. In order to
create them with different modes or ownership make sure to add appropriate d lines.PathThe file system path specification supports simple
specifier expansion, see below. The path (after expansion) must be
absolute.ModeThe 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.User, GroupThe user and group to use for this file or directory. This may either be a numeric ID or a
user/group name. If omitted or when set to -, the user and group of the user who
invokes systemd-tmpfiles 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.AgeThe 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.The age of a file system entry is determined from its last
modification timestamp (mtime), its last access timestamp (atime),
and (except for directories) its last status change timestamp
(ctime). Any of these three (or two) values will prevent cleanup
if it is more recent than the current time minus the age
field.ArgumentFor 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.This field can contain specifiers, see below.SpecifiersSpecifiers can be used in the "path" and "argument" fields.
An unknown or unresolvable specifier is treated as invalid configuration.
The following expansions are understood:
Specifiers availableSpecifierMeaningDetails%bBoot IDThe boot ID of the running system, formatted as string. See random4 for more information.%CSystem or user cache directoryIn mode, this is the same as $XDG_CACHE_HOME, and /var/cache otherwise.%hUser home directoryThis is the home directory of the user running the command. In case of the system instance this resolves to /root.%HHost nameThe hostname of the running system.%LSystem or user log directoryIn mode, this is the same as $XDG_CONFIG_HOME with /log appended, and /var/log otherwise.%mMachine IDThe machine ID of the running system, formatted as string. See machine-id5 for more information.%SSystem or user state directoryIn mode, this is the same as $XDG_CONFIG_HOME, and /var/lib otherwise.%tSystem or user runtime directoryIn mode, this is the same $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR, and /run otherwise.%TDirectory for temporary filesThis is either /tmp or the path $TMPDIR, $TEMP or $TMP are set to.%gUser groupThis is the name of the group running the command. In case of the system instance this resolves to root.%GUser GIDThis is the numeric GID of the group running the command. In case of the system instance this resolves to 0.%uUser nameThis is the name of the user running the command. In case of the system instance this resolves to root.%UUser UIDThis is the numeric UID of the user running the command. In case of the system instance this resolves to 0.%vKernel releaseIdentical to uname -r output.%VDirectory for larger and persistent temporary filesThis is either /var/tmp or the path $TMPDIR, $TEMP or $TMP are set to.%%Escaped %Single percent sign.
ExamplesCreate directories with specific mode and ownershipscreen1,
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
be cleaned up after 10 and 10½ days, respectively.Create a directory with a SMACK attributeD /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.Create a directory and prevent its contents from cleanupabrt1,
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 -
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/cache/dnf/ - - - 30d
The lock files will be removed during boot. Any files and directories in
/var/cache/dnf/ will be removed after they have not been
accessed in 30 days.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.
/run/ and /var/run//var/run/ is a deprecated symlink to /run/, and
applications should use the latter. systemd-tmpfiles will warn if
/var/run/ is used.See Alsosystemd1,
systemd-tmpfiles8,
systemd-delta1,
systemd.exec5,
attr5,
getfattr1,
setfattr1,
setfacl1,
getfacl1,
chattr1,
btrfs-subvolume8,
btrfs-qgroup8