rpm-ostree Developer Jonathan Lebon jlebon@redhat.com Developer Colin Walters walters@redhat.com rpm-ostree 1 rpm-ostree Hybrid image/package system for host operating system updates rpm-ostree COMMAND OPTIONS rpm-ostree is a hybrid image and package system; as the name suggests, it uses OSTree for the image side, and RPM for the package side. It supports composing RPMs server-side into an OSTree commit (like an image), and clients can replicate that bit-for-bit, with fast incremental updates. Additionally, the hybrid nature comes to the fore with client-side package layering and overrides. On an rpm-ostree managed system, the traditional yum (if installed) and rpm tools operate in a read-only state; the RPM database is stored in /usr/share/rpm which is underneath a read-only bind mount. Instead of live package-by-package upgrades, the underlying OSTree layer replicates a complete filesystem tree from a compose server into a new deployment, available on the next reboot. One benefit of this is that there will always be a previous deployment, available for rollback. This also makes it easier to reliably "queue" an update without destabilizing the running system at all. (Currently though there's an experimental livefs command that supports changing the running filesystem). Note in this "pure replication" model, there is no per-client packaging overhead. Dependency resolution, SELinux labeling, all of the scripts etc. were run on the server side and captured in the OSTree commit. cancel Cancel a pending transaction. Exits successfully and does nothing if no transaction is running. Note that it is fully safe to cancel transactions such as upgrade in general. db Gives information pertaining to rpm data within the file system trees within the ostree commits. There are three sub-commands: diff to see how the packages are different between the trees in two revs. If no revs are provided, the booted commit is compared to the pending commit. If only a single rev is provided, the booted commit is compared to that rev. The --format=diff option uses - for removed packages, + for added packages, and finally ! for the old version of an updated package, with a following = for the new version. list to see which packages are within the commit(s) (works like yum list). At least one commit must be specified, but more than one or a range will also work. version to see the rpmdb version of the packages within the commit (works like yum version nogroups). At least one commit must be specified, but more than one or a range will also work. deploy Takes version, branch, or commit ID as an argument, and creates a new deployment using it, setting it up as the default for the next boot. Unlike most other commands, this will automatically fetch and traverse the origin history to find the target. By design, this has no effect on your running filesystem tree. You must reboot for any changes to take effect. --unchanged-exit-77 to exit status 77 to indicate that the system is already on the specified commit. This tristate return model is intended to support idempotency-oriented systems automation tools like Ansible. --reboot or -r to initiate a reboot after the upgrade is prepared. --preview download enough metadata to inspect the RPM diff, but do not actually create a new deployment. --cache-only or -C to perform the operation without trying to download the target tree from the remote nor the latest packages. --download-only to only download the target ostree and layered RPMs without actually performing the deployment. This can be used with a subsequent --cache-only invocation to perform the operation completely offline. install Takes one or more packages as arguments. The packages are fetched from the enabled repositories in /etc/yum.repos.d/ and are overlayed on top of a new deployment. It is also possible to specify a local RPM package that resides on the host. Overlayed packages can later be removed with the uninstall command. rpm-ostree remembers these requests even if a later host update includes those packages already: if the packages are subsequently dropped out again, rpm-ostree will go back to layering them. Note that by default, specifying a package that is already in the base layer is an error unless the --allow-inactive option is provided. This can be useful when anticipating the removal of a base package. --reboot or -r to initiate a reboot after the deployment is prepared. --dry-run or -n to exit after printing the transaction rather than downloading the packages and creating a new deployment. --allow-inactive to allow requests for packages that are already in the base layer. --cache-only or -C to perform the operation without trying to download the latest packages. --download-only to only download the target layered RPMs without actually performing the deployment. This can be used with a subsequent --cache-only invocation to perform the operation completely offline. uninstall Takes one or more packages as arguments. The packages are removed from the set of packages that are currently overlayed. The remaining packages in the set (if any) are fetched from the enabled repositories in /etc/yum.repos.d/ and are overlayed on top of a new deployment. --reboot or -r to initiate a reboot after the deployment is prepared. --dry-run or -n to exit after printing the transaction rather than downloading the packages and creating a new deployment. override remove Remove a package from the base tree. Note that this is similar to layering in that the original base is retained. replace Replace a package in the base tree. reset Undo a remove or replace operation. rebase Switch to a different branch (possibly using a new remote), while preserving all of the state that upgrade does, such as /etc changes, any layered RPM packages, etc. The full syntax is rebase REMOTENAME:BRANCHNAME. Alternatively, you can use the --branch or --remote options mentioned below. With the argument syntax, specifying just BRANCHNAME will reuse the same remote. You may also omit one of REMOTENAME or BRANCHNAME (keeping the colon). In the former case, the branch refers to a local branch; in the latter case, the same branch will be used on a different remote. --branch or -b to to pick a branch name. --remote or -m to to pick a remote name. --cache-only or -C to perform the rebase without trying to download the target tree from the remote nor the latest packages. --download-only to only download the target ostree and layered RPMs without actually performing the deployment. This can be used with a subsequent --cache-only invocation to perform the operation completely offline. rollback OSTree manages an ordered list of bootloader entries, called "deployments". The entry at index 0 is the default bootloader entry. Each entry has a separate /etc, but they all share a single /var. You can use the bootloader to choose between entries by pressing Tab to interrupt startup. This command then changes the default bootloader entry. If the current default is booted, then set the default to the previous entry. Otherwise, make the currently booted tree the default. --reboot or -r to initiate a reboot after rollback is prepared. status Gives information pertaining to the current deployment in use. Lists the names and refspecs of all possible deployments in order, such that the first deployment in the list is the default upon boot. The deployment marked with * is the current booted deployment, and marking with 'r' indicates the most recent upgrade (the newest deployment version). upgrade Download the latest version of the current tree, and deploy it, setting it up as the default for the next boot. By design, this has no effect on your running filesystem tree. You must reboot for any changes to take effect. --unchanged-exit-77 to exit status 77 to indicate that the system is already up to date. This tristate return model is intended to support idempotency-oriented systems automation tools like Ansible. --reboot or -r to initiate a reboot after upgrade is prepared. --allow-downgrade to permit deployment of chronologically older trees. --preview to download only /usr/share/rpm in order to do a package-level diff between the two versions. --check to just check if an upgrade is available, without downloading it or performing a package-level diff. Using this flag will force an update of the RPM metadata from the enabled repos in /etc/yum.repos.d/, if there are any layered packages. --cache-only or -C to perform the upgrade without trying to download the latest tree from the remote nor the latest packages. --download-only to only download the target ostree and layered RPMs without actually performing the deployment. This can be used with a subsequent --cache-only invocation to perform the operation completely offline. override Provides subcommands for overriding (modifying) the base OSTree layer. Such modifications should be done with care and are normally not intended to be long-lasting. For example, one might replace a base package with its older version to avoid a regression. Overrides are automatically carried over during new deployments. The subcommands are: remove to remove base packages. replace to replace base packages. Currently, only local RPM replacements are supported: one must directly provide the RPMs to substitute in. reset to reset previous overrides. Currently, the full NEVRA of the target packages must be specified. refresh-md Download the latest rpm repo metadata if necessary and generate the cache. kargs Without options, display current default kernel arguments. Modify arguments using --append, --replace, --delete, or --editor. This will create a new deployment with the modified kernel arguments. Previous deployments are never changed. By default, modifications are applied to the kernel arguments of the default deployment to get the final arguments. Use --deploy-index or --import-proc-cmdline to instead base them off of a specific deployment or the current boot. cleanup Commands such as upgrade create new deployments, which affect the next boot, and take up additional storage space. In some cases, you may want to undo and clean up these operations. This command supports both removing additional deployments such as the "pending" deployment (the next boot) as well as the default rollback deployment. Use -p/--pending to remove the pending deployment, and -r/--rollback to remove the rollback. The -b/--base option does not affect finished deployments, but will clean up any transient allocated space that may result from interrupted operations. If you want to free up disk space safely, use this option first. The -m/--repomd option cleans up cached RPM repodata and any partially downloaded (but not imported) packages. NOTE: the cleanup will not affect any deployments that have been "pinned" via the ostree admin pin operation. reload Some configuration and state data such as /etc/ostree/remotes.d changes may not be reflected until a daemon reload is invoked. Use this command to initiate a reload. usroverlay Mount a writable overlay filesystem on /usr which is active only for the remainder of the system boot. This is intended for development, testing, and debugging. Changes will not persist across upgrades, or rebooting in general. One important goal of this is to support traditional rpm -Uvh /path/to/rpms or equivalent where changes are applied live. However, an intended future feature for rpm-ostree will be a variant of rpm-ostree override which also supports applying changes live, for the cases which one wants persistence as well. This command is equivalent to ostree admin unlock. initramfs By default, the primary use case mode for rpm-ostree is to replicate an initramfs as part of a base layer. However, some use cases require locally regenerating it to add configuration or drivers. Use rpm-ostree initramfs to inspect the current status. Use --enable to turn on client side initramfs regeneration. A new deployment will be generated, and after reboot, further upgrades will continue regenerating. You must reboot for the new initramfs to take effect. To append additional custom arguments to the initramfs program (currently dracut), use --arg. For example, --arg=-I --arg=/etc/someconfigfile. The --disable option will disable regeneration. You must reboot for the change to take effect. ex This command offers access to experimental features; command line stability is not guaranteed. The available subcommands will be listed by invoking rpm-ostree ex. For example, there is rpm-ostree ex apply-live which is an experimental interface for applying changes to the booted deployment. ex apply-live Experimental feature; subject to change. Given a target OSTree commit (defaults to the pending deployment), create a transient overlayfs filesystem for /usr, and synchronize the changes to the booted filesystem tree. --reset to reset the filesystem tree to the booted commit. --target may be used to target an arbitrary OSTree commit. This is an advanced feature, exposed mainly for testing. $ rpm-ostree install postgresql-server $ rpm-ostree ex apply-live $ systemctl start postgresql # Some setup required Currently, this just synchronizes the filesystem; no systemd units are restarted for example. A major implicit benefit of the overlayfs approach is that if something goes wrong in the middle of a apply-live operation, a system reboot will implicitly remove the overlay, restoring the system to the pristine deployment state. ex initramfs-etc Experimental feature; subject to change. Add configuration (/etc) files into the initramfs without regenerating the entire initramfs. This is useful to be able to configure services backing the root block device as well as early-boot services like systemd and journald. Use --track to start tracking a specific file. Can be specified multiple times. A new deployment will be generated. Use --untrack or --untrack-all to stop tracking files. When there are tracked files, any future created deployment (e.g. when doing an upgrade) will ensure that they are synced. You can additionally use --force-sync to simply generate a new deployment with the latest versions of tracked files without upgrading. compose Entrypoint for tree composition; most typically used on servers to prepare trees for replication by client systems. The tree subcommand processes a treefile, installs packages, and commits the result to an OSTree repository. There are also split commands install, postprocess, and commit. rpm-ostreed.conf5 ostree1, rpm8