SYNOPSIS

systemd-tmpfiles [OPTIONS...] [CONFIGFILE...]

DESCRIPTION

systemd-tmpfiles creates, deletes, and cleans up volatile and temporary files and directories, based on the configuration file format and location specified in tmpfiles.d(5).

If invoked with no arguments, it applies all directives from all configuration files. If one or more absolute filenames are passed on the command line, only the directives in these files are applied. If "-" is specified instead of a filename, directives are read from standard input. If only the basename of a configuration file is specified, all configuration directories as specified in tmpfiles.d(5) are searched for a matching file.

OPTIONS

The following options are understood:

--create

If this option is passed, all files and directories marked with f, F, w, d, D, v, p, L, c, b, m in the configuration files are created or written to. Files and directories marked with z, Z, t, T, a, and A have their ownership, access mode and security labels set.

--clean

If this option is passed, all files and directories with an age parameter configured will be cleaned up.

--remove

If this option is passed, the contents of directories marked with D or R, and files or directories themselves marked with r or R are removed.

--boot

Also execute lines with an exclamation mark.

--prefix=path

Only apply rules with paths that start with the specified prefix. This option can be specified multiple times.

--exclude-prefix=path

Ignore rules with paths that start with the specified prefix. This option can be specified multiple times.

--root=root

Takes a directory path as an argument. All paths will be prefixed with the given alternate root path, including config search paths.

-h, --help

Print a short help text and exit.

--version

Print a short version string and exit.

It is possible to combine --create, --clean, and --remove in one invocation. For example, during boot the following command line is executed to ensure that all temporary and volatile directories are removed and created according to the configuration file:

systemd-tmpfiles --remove --create

UNPRIVILEGED --CLEANUP OPERATION

systemd-tmpfiles tries to avoid changing the access and modification times on the directories it accesses, which requires CAP_ADMIN privileges. When running as non-root, directories which are checked for files to clean up will have their access time bumped, which might prevent their cleanup.