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+<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
+<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
+ "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
+<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
+
+<refentry id="systemd.offline-updates">
+ <refentryinfo>
+ <title>systemd.offline-updates</title>
+ <productname>systemd</productname>
+ </refentryinfo>
+
+ <refmeta>
+ <refentrytitle>systemd.offline-updates</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
+ </refmeta>
+
+ <refnamediv>
+ <refname>systemd.offline-updates</refname>
+ <refpurpose>Implementation of offline updates in systemd</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Implementing Offline System Updates</title>
+
+ <para>This man page describes how to implement "offline" system updates with systemd. By "offline"
+ OS updates we mean package installations and updates that are run with the system booted into a
+ special system update mode, in order to avoid problems related to conflicts of libraries and
+ services that are currently running with those on disk. This document is inspired by this
+ <ulink url="https://wiki.gnome.org/Design/OS/SoftwareUpdates">GNOME design whiteboard</ulink>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>The logic:</para>
+
+ <orderedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The package manager prepares system updates by downloading all (.rpm or .deb or
+ whatever) packages to update off-line in a special directory
+ <filename index="false">/var/lib/system-update</filename> (or
+ another directory of the package/upgrade manager's choice).</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>When the user OK'ed the update, the symlink <filename>/system-update</filename> or
+ <filename>/etc/system-update</filename> is created that points to
+ <filename index="false">/var/lib/system-update</filename> (or wherever the directory with
+ the upgrade files is located) and the system is rebooted. This symlink is in the root
+ directory, since we need to check for it very early at boot, at a time where
+ <filename>/var/</filename> is not available yet.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Very early in the new boot
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system-update-generator</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ checks whether <filename>/system-update</filename> or
+ <filename>/etc/system-update</filename> exists. If so, it (temporarily and for this boot
+ only) redirects (i.e. symlinks) <filename>default.target</filename> to
+ <filename>system-update.target</filename>, a special target that pulls in the base system
+ (i.e. <filename>sysinit.target</filename>, so that all file systems are mounted but little
+ else) and the system update units.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The system now continues to boot into <filename>default.target</filename>, and
+ thus into <filename>system-update.target</filename>. This target pulls in all system
+ update units. Only one service should perform an update (see the next point), and all
+ the other ones should exit cleanly with a "success" return code and without doing
+ anything. Update services should be ordered after <filename>sysinit.target</filename>
+ so that the update starts after all file systems have been mounted.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>As the first step, an update service should check if the
+ <filename>/system-update</filename> or <filename>/etc/system-update</filename> symlink
+ points to the location used by that update service. In case it does not exist or points to a
+ different location, the service must exit without error. It is possible for multiple update
+ services to be installed, and for multiple update services to be launched in parallel, and
+ only the one that corresponds to the tool that <emphasis>created</emphasis> the symlink
+ before reboot should perform any actions. It is unsafe to run multiple updates in
+ parallel.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The update service should now do its job. If applicable and possible, it should
+ create a file system snapshot, then install all packages. After completion (regardless
+ whether the update succeeded or failed) the machine must be rebooted, for example by
+ calling <command>systemctl reboot</command>. In addition, on failure the script should
+ revert to the old file system snapshot (without the symlink).</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The update scripts should exit only after the update is finished. It is expected
+ that the service which performs the update will cause the machine to reboot after it
+ is done. If the <filename>system-update.target</filename> is successfully reached, i.e.
+ all update services have run, and the <filename>/system-update</filename> or
+ <filename>/etc/system-update</filename> symlink still exists, it will be removed and
+ the machine rebooted as a safety measure.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>After a reboot, now that the <filename>/system-update</filename> and
+ <filename>/etc/system-update</filename> symlink is gone, the generator won't redirect
+ <filename>default.target</filename> anymore and the system now boots into the default
+ target again.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </orderedlist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Recommendations</title>
+
+ <orderedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>To make things a bit more robust we recommend hooking the update script into
+ <filename>system-update.target</filename> via a <filename index="false">.wants/</filename>
+ symlink in the distribution package, rather than depending on <command>systemctl
+ enable</command> in the postinst scriptlets of your package. More specifically, for your
+ update script create a .service file, without [Install] section, and then add a symlink like
+ <filename index="false">/usr/lib/systemd/system/system-update.target.wants/foobar.service</filename>
+ → <filename index="false">../foobar.service</filename> to your package.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Make sure to remove the <filename>/system-update</filename> and
+ <filename>/etc/system-update</filename> symlinks as early as possible in the update
+ script to avoid reboot loops in case the update fails.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Use <varname>FailureAction=reboot</varname> in the service file for your update script
+ to ensure that a reboot is automatically triggered if the update fails.
+ <varname>FailureAction=</varname> makes sure that the specified unit is activated if your
+ script exits uncleanly (by non-zero error code, or signal/coredump). If your script succeeds
+ you should trigger the reboot in your own code, for example by invoking logind's
+ <command>Reboot()</command> call or calling <command>systemctl reboot</command>. See
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>org.freedesktop.login1</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ for details about the logind D-Bus API.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The update service should declare <varname>DefaultDependencies=no</varname>,
+ <varname>Requires=sysinit.target</varname>, <varname>After=sysinit.target</varname>,
+ <varname>After=system-update-pre.target</varname>, <varname>Before=system-update.target</varname>
+ and explicitly pull in any other services it requires.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>It may be desirable to always run an auxiliary unit when booting
+ into offline-updates mode, which itself does not install updates. To
+ do this create a .service file with
+ <varname>Wants=system-update-pre.target</varname> and
+ <varname>Before=system-update-pre.target</varname> and add a symlink
+ to that file under
+ <filename index="false">/usr/lib/systemd/system-update.target.wants</filename>
+ .</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </orderedlist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>See also</title>
+
+ <para>
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.generator</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system-update-generator</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry project='mankier'><refentrytitle>dnf.plugin.system-upgrade</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+</refentry>