systemd/man/systemd-sysext.xml

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<refentry id="systemd-sysext"
    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">

  <refentryinfo>
    <title>systemd-sysext</title>
    <productname>systemd</productname>
  </refentryinfo>

  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>systemd-sysext</refentrytitle>
    <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
  </refmeta>

  <refnamediv>
    <refname>systemd-sysext</refname>
    <refname>systemd-sysext.service</refname>
    <refpurpose>Activates System Extension Images</refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>

  <refsynopsisdiv>
    <cmdsynopsis>
      <command>systemd-sysext</command>
      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
    </cmdsynopsis>

    <para><literallayout><filename>systemd-sysext.service</filename></literallayout></para>

  </refsynopsisdiv>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>

    <para><command>systemd-sysext</command> activates/deactivates system extension images. System extension
    images may – dynamically at runtime — extend the <filename>/usr/</filename> and
    <filename>/opt/</filename> directory hierarchies with additional files. This is particularly useful on
    immutable system images where a <filename>/usr/</filename> and/or <filename>/opt/</filename> hierarchy
    residing on a read-only file system shall be extended temporarily at runtime without making any
    persistent modifications.</para>

    <para>System extension images should contain files and directories similar in fashion to regular
    operating system tree. When one or more system extension images are activated, their
    <filename>/usr/</filename> and <filename>/opt/</filename> hierarchies are combined via
    <literal>overlayfs</literal> with the same hierarchies of the host OS, and the host
    <filename>/usr/</filename> and <filename>/opt</filename> overmounted with it ("merging"). When they are
    deactivated, the mount point is disassembled — again revealing the unmodified original host version of
    the hierarchy ("unmerging"). Merging thus makes the extension's resources suddenly appear below the
    <filename>/usr/</filename> and <filename>/opt/</filename> hierarchies as if they were included in the
    base OS image itself. Unmerging makes them disappear again, leaving in place only the files that were
    shipped with the base OS image itself.</para>

    <para>Files and directories contained in the extension images outside of the <filename>/usr/</filename>
    and <filename>/opt/</filename> hierarchies are <emphasis>not</emphasis> merged, and hence have no effect
    when included in a system extension image. In particular, files in the <filename>/etc/</filename> and
    <filename>/var/</filename> included in a system extension image will <emphasis>not</emphasis> appear in
    the respective hierarchies after activation.</para>

    <para>System extension images are strictly read-only, and the host <filename>/usr/</filename> and
    <filename>/opt/</filename> hierarchies become read-only too while they are activated.</para>

    <para>System extensions are supposed to be purely additive, i.e. they are supposed to include only files
    that do not exist in the underlying basic OS image. However, the underlying mechanism (overlayfs) also
    allows removing files, but it is recommended not to make use of this.</para>

    <para>System extension images may be provided in the following formats:</para>

    <orderedlist>
      <listitem><para>Plain directories or btrfs subvolumes containing the OS tree</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>Disk images with a GPT disk label, following the <ulink
      url="https://systemd.io/DISCOVERABLE_PARTITIONS">Discoverable Partition Specification</ulink></para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>Disk images lacking a partition table, with a naked Linux file system (e.g. squashfs or ext4)</para></listitem>
    </orderedlist>

    <para>These image formats are the same ones that
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    supports via it's <option>--directory=</option>/<option>--image=</option> switches and those that the
    service manager supports via <option>RootDirectory=</option>/<option>RootImage=</option>. Similar to
    them they may optionally carry Verity authentication information.</para>

    <para>System extensions are automatically looked for in the directories
    <filename>/etc/extensions/</filename>, <filename>/run/extensions/</filename>,
    <filename>/var/lib/extensions/</filename>, <filename>/usr/lib/extensions/</filename> and
    <filename>/usr/local/lib/extensions/</filename>. The first two listed directories are not suitable for
    carrying large binary images, however are still useful for carrying symlinks to them. The primary place
    for installing system extensions is <filename>/var/lib/extensions/</filename>. Any directories found in
    these search directories are considered directory based extension images, any files with the
    <filename>.raw</filename> suffix are considered disk image based extension images.</para>

    <para>During boot OS extension images are activated automatically, if the
    <filename>systemd-sysext.service</filename> is enabled. Note that this service runs only after the
    underlying file systems where system extensions are searched are mounted. This means they are not
    suitable for shipping resources that are processed by subsystems running in earliest boot. Specifically,
    OS extension images are not suitable for shipping system services or
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-sysusers</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    definitions. See <ulink url="https://systemd.io/PORTABLE_SERVICES">Portable Services</ulink> for a simple
    mechanism for shipping system services in disk images, in a similar fashion to OS extensions. Note the
    different isolation on these two mechanisms: while system extension directly extend the underlying OS
    image with additional files that appear in a way very similar to as if they were shipped in the OS image
    itself and thus imply no security isolation, portable services imply service level sandboxing in one way
    or another. The <filename>systemd-sysext.service</filename> service is guaranteed to finish start-up
    before <filename>basic.target</filename> is reached; i.e. at the time regular services initialize (those
    which do not use <varname>DefaultDependencies=no</varname>), the files and directories system extensions
    provide are available in <filename>/usr/</filename> and <filename>/opt/</filename> and may be
    accessed.</para>

    <para>Note that there is no concept of enabling/disabling installed system extension images: all
    installed extension images are automatically activated at boot.</para>

    <para>A simple mechanism for version compatibility is enforced: a system extension image must carry a
    <filename>/usr/lib/extension-release.d/extension-release.<replaceable>$name</replaceable></filename>
    file, which must match its image name, that is compared with the host <filename>os-release</filename>
    file: the contained <varname>ID=</varname> fields have to match, as well as the
    <varname>SYSEXT_LEVEL=</varname> field (if defined). If the latter is not defined, the
    <varname>VERSION_ID=</varname> field has to match instead. System extensions should not ship a
    <filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename> file (as that would be merged into the host
    <filename>/usr/</filename> tree, overriding the host OS version data, which is not desirable). The
    <filename>extension-release</filename> file follows the same format and semantics, and carries the same
    content, as the <filename>os-release</filename> file of the OS, but it describes the resources carried
    in the extension image.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Uses</title>

    <para>The primary use case for system images are immutable environments where debugging and development
    tools shall optionally be made available, but not included in the immutable base OS image itself
    (e.g. <filename>strace</filename> and <filename>gdb</filename> shall be an optionally installable
    addition in order to make debugging/development easier). System extension images should not be
    misunderstood as a generic software packaging framework, as no dependency scheme is available: system
    extensions should carry all files they need themselves, except for those already shipped in the
    underlying host system image. Typically, system extension images are built at the same time as the base
    OS image — within the same build system.</para>

    <para>Another use case for the system extension concept is temporarily overriding OS supplied resources
    with newer ones, for example to install a locally compiled development version of some low-level
    component over the immutable OS image without doing a full OS rebuild or modifying the nominally
    immutable image. (e.g. "install" a locally built package with <command>DESTDIR=/var/lib/extensions/mytest
    make install &amp;&amp; systemd-sysext refresh</command>, making it available in
    <filename>/usr/</filename> as if it was installed in the OS image itself.) This case works regardless if
    the underlying host <filename>/usr/</filename> is managed as immutable disk image or is a traditional
    package manager controlled (i.e. writable) tree.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Commands</title>

    <para>The following commands are understood:</para>

    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>status</option></term>

        <listitem><para>When invoked without any command verb, or when <option>status</option> is specified
        the current merge status is shown, separately for both <filename>/usr/</filename> and
        <filename>/opt/</filename>.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>merge</option></term>
        <listitem><para>Merges all currently installed system extension images into
        <filename>/usr/</filename> and <filename>/opt/</filename>, by overmounting these hierarchies with an
        <literal>overlayfs</literal> file system combining the underlying hierarchies with those included in
        the extension images. This command will fail if the hierarchies are already merged.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>unmerge</option></term>
        <listitem><para>Unmerges all currently installed system extension images from
        <filename>/usr/</filename> and <filename>/opt/</filename>, by unmounting the
        <literal>overlayfs</literal> file systems created by <option>merge</option>
        prior.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>refresh</option></term>
        <listitem><para>A combination of <option>unmerge</option> and <option>merge</option>: if already
        mounted the existing <literal>overlayfs</literal> instance is unmounted temporarily, and then
        replaced by a new version. This command is useful after installing/removing system extension images,
        in order to update the <literal>overlayfs</literal> file system accordingly. If no system extensions
        are installed when this command is executed, the equivalent of <option>unmerge</option> is
        executed, without establishing any new <literal>overlayfs</literal> instance. Note that currently
        there's a brief moment where neither the old nor the new <literal>overlayfs</literal> file system is
        mounted. This implies that all resources supplied by a system extension will briefly disappear — even
        if it exists continuously during the refresh operation.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>list</option></term>

        <listitem><para>A brief list of installed extension images is shown.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Options</title>

    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--root=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Operate relative to the specified root directory, i.e. establish the
        <literal>overlayfs</literal> mount not on the top-level host <filename>/usr/</filename> and
        <filename>/opt/</filename> hierarchies, but below some specified root directory.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--force</option></term>

        <listitem><para>When merging system extensions into <filename>/usr/</filename> and
        <filename>/opt/</filename>, ignore version incompatibilities, i.e. force merging regardless of
        whether the version information included in the extension images matches the host or
        not.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-pager" />
      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-legend" />
      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="json" />
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Exit status</title>

    <para>On success, 0 is returned.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>See Also</title>
    <para>
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    </para>
  </refsect1>

</refentry>