Provided by: systemd_253.5-1ubuntu6.1_amd64 
NAME
systemd-system.conf, system.conf.d, systemd-user.conf, user.conf.d - System and session
service manager configuration files
SYNOPSIS
/etc/systemd/system.conf, /etc/systemd/system.conf.d/*.conf,
/run/systemd/system.conf.d/*.conf, /lib/systemd/system.conf.d/*.conf
~/.config/systemd/user.conf, /etc/systemd/user.conf, /etc/systemd/user.conf.d/*.conf,
/run/systemd/user.conf.d/*.conf, /usr/lib/systemd/user.conf.d/*.conf
DESCRIPTION
When run as a system instance, systemd interprets the configuration file system.conf and
the files in system.conf.d directories; when run as a user instance, it interprets the
configuration file user.conf (either in the home directory of the user, or if not found,
under /etc/systemd/) and the files in user.conf.d directories. These configuration files
contain a few settings controlling basic manager operations.
See systemd.syntax(7) for a general description of the syntax.
CONFIGURATION DIRECTORIES AND PRECEDENCE
The default configuration is set during compilation, so configuration is only needed when
it is necessary to deviate from those defaults. Initially, the main configuration file in
/etc/systemd/ contains commented out entries showing the defaults as a guide to the
administrator. Local overrides can be created by editing this file or by creating
drop-ins, as described below. Using drop-ins for local configuration is recommended over
modifications to the main configuration file.
In addition to the "main" configuration file, drop-in configuration snippets are read from
/usr/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/, /usr/local/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/, and /etc/systemd/*.conf.d/.
Those drop-ins have higher precedence and override the main configuration file. Files in
the *.conf.d/ configuration subdirectories are sorted by their filename in lexicographic
order, regardless of in which of the subdirectories they reside. When multiple files
specify the same option, for options which accept just a single value, the entry in the
file sorted last takes precedence, and for options which accept a list of values, entries
are collected as they occur in the sorted files.
When packages need to customize the configuration, they can install drop-ins under /usr/.
Files in /etc/ are reserved for the local administrator, who may use this logic to
override the configuration files installed by vendor packages. Drop-ins have to be used to
override package drop-ins, since the main configuration file has lower precedence. It is
recommended to prefix all filenames in those subdirectories with a two-digit number and a
dash, to simplify the ordering of the files.
To disable a configuration file supplied by the vendor, the recommended way is to place a
symlink to /dev/null in the configuration directory in /etc/, with the same filename as
the vendor configuration file.
OPTIONS
All options are configured in the [Manager] section:
LogColor=, LogLevel=, LogLocation=, LogTarget=, LogTime=, DumpCore=yes, CrashChangeVT=no,
CrashShell=no, CrashReboot=no, ShowStatus=yes, DefaultStandardOutput=journal,
DefaultStandardError=inherit
Configures various parameters of basic manager operation. These options may be
overridden by the respective process and kernel command line arguments. See systemd(1)
for details.
CtrlAltDelBurstAction=
Defines what action will be performed if user presses Ctrl-Alt-Delete more than 7
times in 2s. Can be set to "reboot-force", "poweroff-force", "reboot-immediate",
"poweroff-immediate" or disabled with "none". Defaults to "reboot-force".
CPUAffinity=
Configures the CPU affinity for the service manager as well as the default CPU
affinity for all forked off processes. Takes a list of CPU indices or ranges separated
by either whitespace or commas. CPU ranges are specified by the lower and upper CPU
indices separated by a dash. This option may be specified more than once, in which
case the specified CPU affinity masks are merged. If the empty string is assigned, the
mask is reset, all assignments prior to this will have no effect. Individual services
may override the CPU affinity for their processes with the CPUAffinity= setting in
unit files, see systemd.exec(5).
NUMAPolicy=
Configures the NUMA memory policy for the service manager and the default NUMA memory
policy for all forked off processes. Individual services may override the default
policy with the NUMAPolicy= setting in unit files, see systemd.exec(5).
NUMAMask=
Configures the NUMA node mask that will be associated with the selected NUMA policy.
Note that default and local NUMA policies don't require explicit NUMA node mask and
value of the option can be empty. Similarly to NUMAPolicy=, value can be overridden by
individual services in unit files, see systemd.exec(5).
RuntimeWatchdogSec=, RebootWatchdogSec=, KExecWatchdogSec=
Configure the hardware watchdog at runtime and at reboot. Takes a timeout value in
seconds (or in other time units if suffixed with "ms", "min", "h", "d", "w"), or the
special strings "off" or "default". If set to "off" (alternatively: "0") the watchdog
logic is disabled: no watchdog device is opened, configured, or pinged. If set to the
special string "default" the watchdog is opened and pinged in regular intervals, but
the timeout is not changed from the default. If set to any other time value the
watchdog timeout is configured to the specified value (or a value close to it,
depending on hardware capabilities).
If RuntimeWatchdogSec= is set to a non-zero value, the watchdog hardware
(/dev/watchdog0 or the path specified with WatchdogDevice= or the kernel option
systemd.watchdog-device=) will be programmed to automatically reboot the system if it
is not contacted within the specified timeout interval. The system manager will ensure
to contact it at least once in half the specified timeout interval. This feature
requires a hardware watchdog device to be present, as it is commonly the case in
embedded and server systems. Not all hardware watchdogs allow configuration of all
possible reboot timeout values, in which case the closest available timeout is picked.
RebootWatchdogSec= may be used to configure the hardware watchdog when the system is
asked to reboot. It works as a safety net to ensure that the reboot takes place even
if a clean reboot attempt times out. Note that the RebootWatchdogSec= timeout applies
only to the second phase of the reboot, i.e. after all regular services are already
terminated, and after the system and service manager process (PID 1) got replaced by
the systemd-shutdown binary, see system bootup(7) for details. During the first phase
of the shutdown operation the system and service manager remains running and hence
RuntimeWatchdogSec= is still honoured. In order to define a timeout on this first
phase of system shutdown, configure JobTimeoutSec= and JobTimeoutAction= in the [Unit]
section of the shutdown.target unit. By default RuntimeWatchdogSec= defaults to 0
(off), and RebootWatchdogSec= to 10min.
KExecWatchdogSec= may be used to additionally enable the watchdog when kexec is being
executed rather than when rebooting. Note that if the kernel does not reset the
watchdog on kexec (depending on the specific hardware and/or driver), in this case the
watchdog might not get disabled after kexec succeeds and thus the system might get
rebooted, unless RuntimeWatchdogSec= is also enabled at the same time. For this reason
it is recommended to enable KExecWatchdogSec= only if RuntimeWatchdogSec= is also
enabled.
These settings have no effect if a hardware watchdog is not available.
RuntimeWatchdogPreSec=
Configure the hardware watchdog device pre-timeout value. Takes a timeout value in
seconds (or in other time units similar to RuntimeWatchdogSec=). A watchdog
pre-timeout is a notification generated by the watchdog before the watchdog reset
might occur in the event the watchdog has not been serviced. This notification is
handled by the kernel and can be configured to take an action (i.e. generate a kernel
panic) using RuntimeWatchdogPreGovernor=. Not all watchdog hardware or drivers support
generating a pre-timeout and depending on the state of the system, the kernel may be
unable to take the configured action before the watchdog reboot. The watchdog will be
configured to generate the pre-timeout event at the amount of time specified by
RuntimeWatchdogPreSec= before the runtime watchdog timeout (set by
RuntimeWatchdogSec=). For example, if the we have RuntimeWatchdogSec=30 and
RuntimeWatchdogPreSec=10, then the pre-timeout event will occur if the watchdog has
not pinged for 20s (10s before the watchdog would fire). By default,
RuntimeWatchdogPreSec= defaults to 0 (off). The value set for RuntimeWatchdogPreSec=
must be smaller than the timeout value for RuntimeWatchdogSec=. This setting has no
effect if a hardware watchdog is not available or the hardware watchdog does not
support a pre-timeout and will be ignored by the kernel if the setting is greater than
the actual watchdog timeout.
RuntimeWatchdogPreGovernor=
Configure the action taken by the hardware watchdog device when the pre-timeout
expires. The default action for the pre-timeout event depends on the kernel
configuration, but it is usually to log a kernel message. For a list of valid actions
available for a given watchdog device, check the content of the
/sys/class/watchdog/watchdogX/pretimeout_available_governors file. Typically,
available governor types are noop and panic. Availability, names and functionality
might vary depending on the specific device driver in use. If the
pretimeout_available_governors sysfs file is empty, the governor might be built as a
kernel module and might need to be manually loaded (e.g. pretimeout_noop.ko), or the
watchdog device might not support pre-timeouts.
WatchdogDevice=
Configure the hardware watchdog device that the runtime and shutdown watchdog timers
will open and use. Defaults to /dev/watchdog0. This setting has no effect if a
hardware watchdog is not available.
CapabilityBoundingSet=
Controls which capabilities to include in the capability bounding set for PID 1 and
its children. See capabilities(7) for details. Takes a whitespace-separated list of
capability names as read by cap_from_name(3). Capabilities listed will be included in
the bounding set, all others are removed. If the list of capabilities is prefixed with
~, all but the listed capabilities will be included, the effect of the assignment
inverted. Note that this option also affects the respective capabilities in the
effective, permitted and inheritable capability sets. The capability bounding set may
also be individually configured for units using the CapabilityBoundingSet= directive
for units, but note that capabilities dropped for PID 1 cannot be regained in
individual units, they are lost for good.
NoNewPrivileges=
Takes a boolean argument. If true, ensures that PID 1 and all its children can never
gain new privileges through execve(2) (e.g. via setuid or setgid bits, or filesystem
capabilities). Defaults to false. General purpose distributions commonly rely on
executables with setuid or setgid bits and will thus not function properly with this
option enabled. Individual units cannot disable this option. Also see No New
Privileges Flag[1].
SystemCallArchitectures=
Takes a space-separated list of architecture identifiers. Selects from which
architectures system calls may be invoked on this system. This may be used as an
effective way to disable invocation of non-native binaries system-wide, for example to
prohibit execution of 32-bit x86 binaries on 64-bit x86-64 systems. This option
operates system-wide, and acts similar to the SystemCallArchitectures= setting of unit
files, see systemd.exec(5) for details. This setting defaults to the empty list, in
which case no filtering of system calls based on architecture is applied. Known
architecture identifiers are "x86", "x86-64", "x32", "arm" and the special identifier
"native". The latter implicitly maps to the native architecture of the system (or more
specifically, the architecture the system manager was compiled for). Set this setting
to "native" to prohibit execution of any non-native binaries. When a binary executes a
system call of an architecture that is not listed in this setting, it will be
immediately terminated with the SIGSYS signal.
TimerSlackNSec=
Sets the timer slack in nanoseconds for PID 1, which is inherited by all executed
processes, unless overridden individually, for example with the TimerSlackNSec=
setting in service units (for details see systemd.exec(5)). The timer slack controls
the accuracy of wake-ups triggered by system timers. See prctl(2) for more
information. Note that in contrast to most other time span definitions this parameter
takes an integer value in nano-seconds if no unit is specified. The usual time units
are understood too.
StatusUnitFormat=
Takes name, description or combined as the value. If name, the system manager will use
unit names in status messages (e.g. "systemd-journald.service"), instead of the
longer and more informative descriptions set with Description= (e.g. "Journal Logging
Service"). If combined, the system manager will use both unit names and descriptions
in status messages (e.g. "systemd-journald.service - Journal Logging Service").
See systemd.unit(5) for details about unit names and Description=.
DefaultTimerAccuracySec=
Sets the default accuracy of timer units. This controls the global default for the
AccuracySec= setting of timer units, see systemd.timer(5) for details. AccuracySec=
set in individual units override the global default for the specific unit. Defaults to
1min. Note that the accuracy of timer units is also affected by the configured timer
slack for PID 1, see TimerSlackNSec= above.
DefaultTimeoutStartSec=, DefaultTimeoutStopSec=, DefaultTimeoutAbortSec=,
DefaultRestartSec=
Configures the default timeouts for starting, stopping and aborting of units, as well
as the default time to sleep between automatic restarts of units, as configured
per-unit in TimeoutStartSec=, TimeoutStopSec=, TimeoutAbortSec= and RestartSec= (for
services, see systemd.service(5) for details on the per-unit settings). For
non-service units, DefaultTimeoutStartSec= sets the default TimeoutSec= value.
DefaultTimeoutStartSec= and DefaultTimeoutStopSec= default to 90 s in the system
manager and 90 s in the user manager. DefaultTimeoutAbortSec= is not set by default
so that all units fall back to TimeoutStopSec=. DefaultRestartSec= defaults to 100
ms.
DefaultDeviceTimeoutSec=
Configures the default timeout for waiting for devices. It can be changed per device
via the x-systemd.device-timeout= option in /etc/fstab and /etc/crypttab (see
systemd.mount(5), crypttab(5)). Defaults to 90 s in the system manager and 90 s in the
user manager.
DefaultStartLimitIntervalSec=, DefaultStartLimitBurst=
Configure the default unit start rate limiting, as configured per-service by
StartLimitIntervalSec= and StartLimitBurst=. See systemd.service(5) for details on the
per-service settings. DefaultStartLimitIntervalSec= defaults to 10s.
DefaultStartLimitBurst= defaults to 5.
DefaultEnvironment=
Configures environment variables passed to all executed processes. Takes a
space-separated list of variable assignments. See environ(7) for details about
environment variables.
Simple "%"-specifier expansion is supported, see below for a list of supported
specifiers.
Example:
DefaultEnvironment="VAR1=word1 word2" VAR2=word3 "VAR3=word 5 6"
Sets three variables "VAR1", "VAR2", "VAR3".
ManagerEnvironment=
Takes the same arguments as DefaultEnvironment=, see above. Sets environment variables
just for the manager process itself. In contrast to user managers, these variables are
not inherited by processes spawned by the system manager, use DefaultEnvironment= for
that. Note that these variables are merged into the existing environment block. In
particular, in case of the system manager, this includes variables set by the kernel
based on the kernel command line.
Setting environment variables for the manager process may be useful to modify its
behaviour. See ENVIRONMENT[2] for a descriptions of some variables understood by
systemd.
Simple "%"-specifier expansion is supported, see below for a list of supported
specifiers.
DefaultCPUAccounting=, DefaultMemoryAccounting=, DefaultTasksAccounting=,
DefaultIOAccounting=, DefaultIPAccounting=
Configure the default resource accounting settings, as configured per-unit by
CPUAccounting=, MemoryAccounting=, TasksAccounting=, IOAccounting= and IPAccounting=.
See systemd.resource-control(5) for details on the per-unit settings.
DefaultTasksAccounting= defaults to yes, DefaultMemoryAccounting= to yes.
DefaultCPUAccounting= defaults to yes, but really has no effect if enabling CPU
accounting doesn't require the cpu controller to be enabled (Linux 4.15+ using the
unified hierarchy for resource control), otherwise it defaults to no. The other three
settings default to no.
DefaultTasksMax=
Configure the default value for the per-unit TasksMax= setting. See systemd.resource-
control(5) for details. This setting applies to all unit types that support resource
control settings, with the exception of slice units. Defaults to 15% of the minimum of
kernel.pid_max=, kernel.threads-max= and root cgroup pids.max. Kernel has a default
value for kernel.pid_max= and an algorithm of counting in case of more than 32 cores.
For example, with the default kernel.pid_max=, DefaultTasksMax= defaults to 4915, but
might be greater in other systems or smaller in OS containers.
DefaultLimitCPU=, DefaultLimitFSIZE=, DefaultLimitDATA=, DefaultLimitSTACK=,
DefaultLimitCORE=, DefaultLimitRSS=, DefaultLimitNOFILE=, DefaultLimitAS=,
DefaultLimitNPROC=, DefaultLimitMEMLOCK=, DefaultLimitLOCKS=, DefaultLimitSIGPENDING=,
DefaultLimitMSGQUEUE=, DefaultLimitNICE=, DefaultLimitRTPRIO=, DefaultLimitRTTIME=
These settings control various default resource limits for processes executed by
units. See setrlimit(2) for details. These settings may be overridden in individual
units using the corresponding LimitXXX= directives and they accept the same parameter
syntax, see systemd.exec(5) for details. Note that these resource limits are only
defaults for units, they are not applied to the service manager process (i.e. PID 1)
itself.
Most of these settings are unset, which means the resource limits are inherited from
the kernel or, if invoked in a container, from the container manager. However, the
following have defaults:
• DefaultLimitNOFILE= defaults to 1024:524288.
• DefaultLimitMEMLOCK= defaults to 8M.
• DefaultLimitCORE= does not have a default but it is worth mentioning that
RLIMIT_CORE is set to "infinity" by PID 1 which is inherited by its children.
Note that the service manager internally in PID 1 bumps RLIMIT_NOFILE and
RLIMIT_MEMLOCK to higher values, however the limit is reverted to the mentioned
defaults for all child processes forked off.
DefaultOOMPolicy=
Configure the default policy for reacting to processes being killed by the Linux
Out-Of-Memory (OOM) killer or systemd-oomd. This may be used to pick a global default
for the per-unit OOMPolicy= setting. See systemd.service(5) for details. Note that
this default is not used for services that have Delegate= turned on.
DefaultOOMScoreAdjust=
Configures the default OOM score adjustments of processes run by the service manager.
This defaults to unset (meaning the forked off processes inherit the service manager's
OOM score adjustment value), except if the service manager is run for an unprivileged
user, in which case this defaults to the service manager's OOM adjustment value plus
100 (this makes service processes slightly more likely to be killed under memory
pressure than the manager itself). This may be used to pick a global default for the
per-unit OOMScoreAdjust= setting. See systemd.exec(5) for details. Note that this
setting has no effect on the OOM score adjustment value of the service manager process
itself, it retains the original value set during its invocation.
DefaultSmackProcessLabel=
Takes a SMACK64 security label as the argument. The process executed by a unit will be
started under this label if SmackProcessLabel= is not set in the unit. See
systemd.exec(5) for the details.
If the value is "/", only labels specified with SmackProcessLabel= are assigned and
the compile-time default is ignored.
ReloadLimitIntervalSec=, ReloadLimitBurst=
Rate limiting for daemon-reload requests. Default to unset, and any number of
daemon-reload operations can be requested at any time. ReloadLimitIntervalSec= takes
a value in seconds to configure the rate limit window, and ReloadLimitBurst= takes a
positive integer to configure the maximum allowed number of reloads within the
configured time window.
SPECIFIERS
Specifiers may be used in the DefaultEnvironment= and ManagerEnvironment= settings. The
following expansions are understood:
Table 1. Specifiers available
┌──────────┬──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
│Specifier │ Meaning │ Details │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%a" │ Architecture │ A short string │
│ │ │ identifying the │
│ │ │ architecture of the │
│ │ │ local system. A string │
│ │ │ such as x86, x86-64 or │
│ │ │ arm64. See the │
│ │ │ architectures defined │
│ │ │ for │
│ │ │ ConditionArchitecture= │
│ │ │ in systemd.unit(5) for a │
│ │ │ full list. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%A" │ Operating system image │ The operating system │
│ │ version │ image version identifier │
│ │ │ of the running system, │
│ │ │ as read from the │
│ │ │ IMAGE_VERSION= field of │
│ │ │ /etc/os-release. If not │
│ │ │ set, resolves to an │
│ │ │ empty string. See os- │
│ │ │ release(5) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%b" │ Boot ID │ The boot ID of the │
│ │ │ running system, │
│ │ │ formatted as string. See │
│ │ │ random(4) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%B" │ Operating system build │ The operating system │
│ │ ID │ build identifier of the │
│ │ │ running system, as read │
│ │ │ from the BUILD_ID= field │
│ │ │ of /etc/os-release. If │
│ │ │ not set, resolves to an │
│ │ │ empty string. See os- │
│ │ │ release(5) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%H" │ Host name │ The hostname of the │
│ │ │ running system. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%l" │ Short host name │ The hostname of the │
│ │ │ running system, │
│ │ │ truncated at the first │
│ │ │ dot to remove any domain │
│ │ │ component. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%m" │ Machine ID │ The machine ID of the │
│ │ │ running system, │
│ │ │ formatted as string. See │
│ │ │ machine-id(5) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%M" │ Operating system image │ The operating system │
│ │ identifier │ image identifier of the │
│ │ │ running system, as read │
│ │ │ from the IMAGE_ID= field │
│ │ │ of /etc/os-release. If │
│ │ │ not set, resolves to an │
│ │ │ empty string. See os- │
│ │ │ release(5) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%o" │ Operating system ID │ The operating system │
│ │ │ identifier of the │
│ │ │ running system, as read │
│ │ │ from the ID= field of │
│ │ │ /etc/os-release. See os- │
│ │ │ release(5) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%v" │ Kernel release │ Identical to uname -r │
│ │ │ output. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%w" │ Operating system version │ The operating system │
│ │ ID │ version identifier of │
│ │ │ the running system, as │
│ │ │ read from the │
│ │ │ VERSION_ID= field of │
│ │ │ /etc/os-release. If not │
│ │ │ set, resolves to an │
│ │ │ empty string. See os- │
│ │ │ release(5) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%W" │ Operating system variant │ The operating system │
│ │ ID │ variant identifier of │
│ │ │ the running system, as │
│ │ │ read from the │
│ │ │ VARIANT_ID= field of │
│ │ │ /etc/os-release. If not │
│ │ │ set, resolves to an │
│ │ │ empty string. See os- │
│ │ │ release(5) for more │
│ │ │ information. │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%T" │ Directory for temporary │ This is either /tmp or │
│ │ files │ the path "$TMPDIR", │
│ │ │ "$TEMP" or "$TMP" are │
│ │ │ set to. (Note that the │
│ │ │ directory may be │
│ │ │ specified without a │
│ │ │ trailing slash.) │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%V" │ Directory for larger and │ This is either /var/tmp │
│ │ persistent temporary │ or the path "$TMPDIR", │
│ │ files │ "$TEMP" or "$TMP" are │
│ │ │ set to. (Note that the │
│ │ │ directory may be │
│ │ │ specified without a │
│ │ │ trailing slash.) │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│"%%" │ Single percent sign │ Use "%%" in place of "%" │
│ │ │ to specify a single │
│ │ │ percent sign. │
└──────────┴──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘
HISTORY
systemd 252
Option DefaultBlockIOAccounting= was deprecated. Please switch to the unified cgroup
hierarchy.
SEE ALSO
systemd(1), systemd.directives(7), systemd.exec(5), systemd.service(5), environ(7),
capabilities(7)
NOTES
1. No New Privileges Flag
https://docs.kernel.org/userspace-api/no_new_privs.html
2. ENVIRONMENT
https://systemd.io/ENVIRONMENT