Type=
The GPT partition type UUID to match. This may be a GPT
partition type UUID such as
4f68bce3-e8cd-4db1-96e7-fbcaf984b709, or one of the following
special identifiers:
Table 1. GPT partition type identifiers
┌────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
│Identifier │ Explanation │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│esp │ EFI System Partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│xbootldr │ Extended Boot Loader │
│ │ Partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│swap │ Swap partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│home │ Home (/home/) partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│srv │ Server data (/srv/) │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│var │ Variable data (/var/) │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│tmp │ Temporary data │
│ │ (/var/tmp/) partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│linux-generic │ Generic Linux file │
│ │ system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root │ Root file system │
│ │ partition type │
│ │ appropriate for the │
│ │ local architecture (an │
│ │ alias for an │
│ │ architecture root file │
│ │ system partition type │
│ │ listed below, e.g. │
│ │ root-x86-64) │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-verity │ Verity data for the root │
│ │ file system partition │
│ │ for the local │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-secondary │ Root file system │
│ │ partition of the │
│ │ secondary architecture │
│ │ of the local │
│ │ architecture (usually │
│ │ the matching 32bit │
│ │ architecture for the │
│ │ local 64bit │
│ │ architecture) │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-secondary-verity │ Verity data for the root │
│ │ file system partition of │
│ │ the secondary │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-x86 │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the x86 │
│ │ (32bit, aka i386) │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-x86-verity │ Verity data for the x86 │
│ │ (32bit) root file system │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-x86-64 │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the x86_64 │
│ │ (64bit, aka amd64) │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-x86-64-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ x86_64 (64bit) root file │
│ │ system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-arm │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the ARM │
│ │ (32bit) architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-arm-verity │ Verity data for the ARM │
│ │ (32bit) root file system │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-arm64 │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the ARM │
│ │ (64bit, aka aarch64) │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-arm64-verity │ Verity data for the ARM │
│ │ (64bit, aka aarch64) │
│ │ root file system │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-ia64 │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the ia64 │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-ia64-verity │ Verity data for the ia64 │
│ │ root file system │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-loongarch64 │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the │
│ │ LoongArch 64-bit │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-loongarch64-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ LoongArch 64-bit root │
│ │ file system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-riscv32 │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the RISC-V │
│ │ 32-bit architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-riscv32-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ RISC-V 32-bit root file │
│ │ system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-riscv64 │ Root file system │
│ │ partition for the RISC-V │
│ │ 64-bit architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│root-riscv64-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ RISC-V 64-bit root file │
│ │ system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition type │
│ │ appropriate for the │
│ │ local architecture (an │
│ │ alias for an │
│ │ architecture /usr/ file │
│ │ system partition type │
│ │ listed below, e.g. │
│ │ usr-x86-64) │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the local │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-secondary │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition of the │
│ │ secondary architecture │
│ │ of the local │
│ │ architecture (usually │
│ │ the matching 32bit │
│ │ architecture for the │
│ │ local 64bit │
│ │ architecture) │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-secondary-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition of the │
│ │ secondary architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-x86 │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the x86 │
│ │ (32bit, aka i386) │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-x86-verity │ Verity data for the x86 │
│ │ (32bit) /usr/ file │
│ │ system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-x86-64 │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the x86_64 │
│ │ (64bit, aka amd64) │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-x86-64-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ x86_64 (64bit) /usr/ │
│ │ file system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-arm │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the ARM │
│ │ (32bit) architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-arm-verity │ Verity data for the ARM │
│ │ (32bit) /usr/ file │
│ │ system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-arm64 │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the ARM │
│ │ (64bit, aka aarch64) │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-arm64-verity │ Verity data for the ARM │
│ │ (64bit, aka aarch64) │
│ │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-ia64 │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the ia64 │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-ia64-verity │ Verity data for the ia64 │
│ │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-loongarch64 │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the │
│ │ LoongArch 64-bit │
│ │ architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-loongarch64-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ LoongArch 64-bit /usr/ │
│ │ file system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-riscv32 │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the RISC-V │
│ │ 32-bit architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-riscv32-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ RISC-V 32-bit /usr/ file │
│ │ system partition │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-riscv64 │ /usr/ file system │
│ │ partition for the RISC-V │
│ │ 64-bit architecture │
├────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│usr-riscv64-verity │ Verity data for the │
│ │ RISC-V 64-bit /usr/ file │
│ │ system partition │
└────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘
This setting defaults to linux-generic.
Most of the partition type UUIDs listed above are defined in
the Discoverable Partitions Specification
Label=
The textual label to assign to the partition if none is
assigned yet. Note that this setting is not used for
matching. It is also not used when a label is already set for
an existing partition. It is thus only used when a partition
is newly created or when an existing one had a no label set
(that is: an empty label). If not specified a label derived
from the partition type is automatically used. Simple
specifier expansion is supported, see below.
UUID=
The UUID to assign to the partition if none is assigned yet.
Note that this setting is not used for matching. It is also
not used when a UUID is already set for an existing
partition. It is thus only used when a partition is newly
created or when an existing one had a all-zero UUID set. If
not specified a UUID derived from the partition type is
automatically used.
Priority=
A numeric priority to assign to this partition, in the range
-2147483648...2147483647, with smaller values indicating
higher priority, and higher values indicating smaller
priority. This priority is used in case the configured size
constraints on the defined partitions do not permit fitting
all partitions onto the available disk space. If the
partitions do not fit, the highest numeric partition priority
of all defined partitions is determined, and all defined
partitions with this priority are removed from the list of
new partitions to create (which may be multiple, if the same
priority is used for multiple partitions). The fitting
algorithm is then tried again. If the partitions still do not
fit, the now highest numeric partition priority is
determined, and the matching partitions removed too, and so
on. Partitions of a priority of 0 or lower are never removed.
If all partitions with a priority above 0 are removed and the
partitions still do not fit on the device the operation
fails. Note that this priority has no effect on ordering
partitions, for that use the alphabetical order of the
filenames of the partition definition files. Defaults to 0.
Weight=
A numeric weight to assign to this partition in the range
0...1000000. Available disk space is assigned the defined
partitions according to their relative weights (subject to
the size constraints configured with SizeMinBytes=,
SizeMaxBytes=), so that a partition with weight 2000 gets
double the space as one with weight 1000, and a partition
with weight 333 a third of that. Defaults to 1000.
The Weight= setting is used to distribute available disk
space in an "elastic" fashion, based on the disk size and
existing partitions. If a partition shall have a fixed size
use both SizeMinBytes= and SizeMaxBytes= with the same value
in order to fixate the size to one value, in which case the
weight has no effect.
PaddingWeight=
Similar to Weight= but sets a weight for the free space after
the partition (the "padding"). When distributing available
space the weights of all partitions and all defined padding
is summed, and then each partition and padding gets the
fraction defined by its weight. Defaults to 0, i.e. by
default no padding is applied.
Padding is useful if empty space shall be left for later
additions or a safety margin at the end of the device or
between partitions.
SizeMinBytes=, SizeMaxBytes=
Specifies minimum and maximum size constraints in bytes.
Takes the usual K, M, G, T, ... suffixes (to the base of
1024). If SizeMinBytes= is specified the partition is created
at or grown to at least the specified size. If SizeMaxBytes=
is specified the partition is created at or grown to at most
the specified size. The precise size is determined through
the weight value value configured with Weight=, see above.
When SizeMinBytes= is set equal to SizeMaxBytes= the
configured weight has no effect as the partition is
explicitly sized to the specified fixed value. Note that
partitions are never created smaller than 4096 bytes, and
since partitions are never shrunk the previous size of the
partition (in case the partition already exists) is also
enforced as lower bound for the new size. The values should
be specified as multiples of 4096 bytes, and are rounded
upwards (in case of SizeMinBytes=) or downwards (in case of
SizeMaxBytes=) otherwise. If the backing device does not
provide enough space to fulfill the constraints placing the
partition will fail. For partitions that shall be created,
depending on the setting of Priority= (see above) the
partition might be dropped and the placing algorithm
restarted. By default a minimum size constraint of 10M and no
maximum size constraint is set.
PaddingMinBytes=, PaddingMaxBytes=
Specifies minimum and maximum size constraints in bytes for
the free space after the partition (the "padding"). Semantics
are similar to SizeMinBytes= and SizeMaxBytes=, except that
unlike partition sizes free space can be shrunk and can be as
small as zero. By default no size constraints on padding are
set, so that only PaddingWeight= determines the size of the
padding applied.
CopyBlocks=
Takes a path to a regular file, block device node or
directory, or the special value "auto". If specified and the
partition is newly created, the data from the specified path
is written to the newly created partition, on the block
level. If a directory is specified, the backing block device
of the file system the directory is on is determined, and the
data read directly from that. This option is useful to
efficiently replicate existing file systems onto new
partitions on the block level — for example to build a simple
OS installer or an OS image builder.
If the special value "auto" is specified, the source to copy
from is automatically picked up from the running system (or
the image specified with --image= — if used). A partition
that matches both the configured partition type (as declared
with Type= described above), and the currently mounted
directory appropriate for that partition type is determined.
For example, if the partition type is set to "root" the
partition backing the root directory (/) is used as source to
copy from — if its partition type is set to "root" as well.
If the declared type is "usr" the partition backing /usr/ is
used as source to copy blocks from — if its partition type is
set to "usr" too. The logic is capable of automatically
tracking down the backing partitions for encrypted and
Verity-enabled volumes. "CopyBlocks=auto" is useful for
implementing "self-replicating" systems, i.e. systems that
are their own installer.
The file specified here must have a size that is a multiple
of the basic block size 512 and not be empty. If this option
is used, the size allocation algorithm is slightly altered:
the partition is created as least as big as required to fit
the data in, i.e. the data size is an additional minimum size
value taken into consideration for the allocation algorithm,
similar to and in addition to the SizeMin= value configured
above.
This option has no effect if the partition it is declared for
already exists, i.e. existing data is never overwritten. Note
that the data is copied in before the partition table is
updated, i.e. before the partition actually is persistently
created. This provides robustness: it is guaranteed that the
partition either doesn't exist or exists fully populated; it
is not possible that the partition exists but is not or only
partially populated.
This option cannot be combined with Format= or CopyFiles=.
Format=
Takes a file system name, such as "ext4", "btrfs", "xfs" or
"vfat", or the special value "swap". If specified and the
partition is newly created it is formatted with the specified
file system (or as swap device). The file system UUID and
label are automatically derived from the partition UUID and
label. If this option is used, the size allocation algorithm
is slightly altered: the partition is created as least as big
as required for the minimal file system of the specified type
(or 4KiB if the minimal size is not known).
This option has no effect if the partition already exists.
Similar to the behaviour of CopyBlocks= the file system is
formatted before the partition is created, ensuring that the
partition only ever exists with a fully initialized file
system.
This option cannot be combined with CopyBlocks=.
CopyFiles=
Takes a pair of colon separated absolute file system paths.
The first path refers to a source file or directory on the
host, the second path refers to a target in the file system
of the newly created partition and formatted file system.
This setting may be used to copy files or directories from
the host into the file system that is created due to the
Format= option. If CopyFiles= is used without Format=
specified explicitly, "Format=" with a suitable default is
implied (currently "ext4", but this may change in the
future). This option may be used multiple times to copy
multiple files or directories from host into the newly
formatted file system. The colon and second path may be
omitted in which case the source path is also used as the
target path (relative to the root of the newly created file
system). If the source path refers to a directory it is
copied recursively.
This option has no effect if the partition already exists: it
cannot be used to copy additional files into an existing
partition, it may only be used to populate a file system
created anew.
The copy operation is executed before the file system is
registered in the partition table, thus ensuring that a file
system populated this way only ever exists fully initialized.
This option cannot be combined with CopyBlocks=.
When systemd-repart is invoked with the --image= or --root=
command line switches the source paths specified are taken
relative to the specified root directory or disk image root.
MakeDirectories=
Takes one or more absolute paths, separated by whitespace,
each declaring a directory to create within the new file
system. Behaviour is similar to CopyFiles=, but instead of
copying in a set of files this just creates the specified
directories with the default mode of 0755 owned by the root
user and group, plus all their parent directories (with the
same ownership and access mode). To configure directories
with different ownership or access mode, use CopyFiles= and
specify a source tree to copy containing appropriately
owned/configured directories. This option may be used more
than once to create multiple directories. When CopyFiles= and
MakeDirectories= are used together the former is applied
first. If a directory listed already exists no operation is
executed (in particular, the ownership/access mode of the
directories is left as is).
The primary usecase for this option is to create a minimal
set of directories that may be mounted over by other
partitions contained in the same disk image. For example, a
disk image where the root file system is formatted at first
boot might want to automatically pre-create /usr/ in it this
way, so that the "usr" partition may over-mount it.
Consider using systemd-tmpfiles(8) with its --image= option
to pre-create other, more complex directory hierarchies (as
well as other inodes) with fine-grained control of ownership,
access modes and other file attributes.
Encrypt=
Takes one of "off", "key-file", "tpm2" and "key-file+tpm2"
(alternatively, also accepts a boolean value, which is mapped
to "off" when false, and "key-file" when true). Defaults to
"off". If not "off" the partition will be formatted with a
LUKS2 superblock, before the blocks configured with
CopyBlocks= are copied in or the file system configured with
Format= is created.
The LUKS2 UUID is automatically derived from the partition
UUID in a stable fashion. If "key-file" or "key-file+tpm2" is
used, a key is added to the LUKS2 superblock, configurable
with the --key-file= option to systemd-repart. If "tpm2" or
"key-file+tpm2" is used, a key is added to the LUKS2
superblock that is enrolled to the local TPM2 chip, as
configured with the --tpm2-device= and --tpm2-pcrs= options
to systemd-repart.
When used this slightly alters the size allocation logic as
the implicit, minimal size limits of Format= and CopyBlocks=
are increased by the space necessary for the LUKS2 superblock
(see above).
This option has no effect if the partition already exists.
FactoryReset=
Takes a boolean argument. If specified the partition is
marked for removal during a factory reset operation. This
functionality is useful to implement schemes where images can
be reset into their original state by removing partitions and
creating them anew. Defaults to off.
Flags=
Configures the 64bit GPT partition flags field to set for the
partition when creating it. This option has no effect if the
partition already exists. If not specified the flags values
is set to all zeroes, except for the three bits that can also
be configured via NoAuto=, ReadOnly= and GrowFileSystem=; see
below for details on the defaults for these three flags.
Specify the flags value in hexadecimal (by prefixing it with
"0x"), binary (prefix "0b") or decimal (no prefix).
NoAuto=, ReadOnly=, GrowFileSystem=
Configures the No-Auto, Read-Only and Grow-File-System
partition flags (bit 63, 60 and 59) of the partition table
entry, as defined by the Discoverable Partitions
Specification
If Flags= is used in conjunction with one or more of
NoAuto=/ReadOnly=/GrowFileSystem= the latter control the
value of the relevant flags, i.e. the high-level settings
NoAuto=/ReadOnly=/GrowFileSystem= override the relevant bits
of the low-level setting Flags=.
Note that the three flags affect only automatic partition
mounting, as implemented by systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8) or
the --image= option of various commands (such as
systemd-nspawn(1)). It has no effect on explicit mounts, such
as those done via mount(8) or fstab(5).
If both bit 50 and 59 are set for a partition (i.e. the
partition is marked both read-only and marked for file system
growing) the latter is typically without effect: the
read-only flag takes precedence in most tools reading these
flags, and since growing the file system involves writing to
the partition it is consequently ignored.
NoAuto= defaults to off. ReadOnly= defaults to on for Verity
partition types, and off for all others. GrowFileSystem=
defaults to on for all partition types that support it,
except if the partition is marked read-only (and thus
effectively, defaults to off for Verity partitions).
