SYSTEMD-SO...T.SERVICE(8) systemd-soft-reboot.service SYSTEMD-SO...T.SERVICE(8)
NAME
systemd-soft-reboot.service - Userspace reboot operation
SYNOPSIS
systemd-soft-reboot.service
DESCRIPTION
systemd-soft-reboot.service is a system service that is pulled in by
soft-reboot.target and is responsible for performing a userspace-only
reboot operation. When invoked, it will send the SIGTERM signal to any
processes left running (but does not wait for the processes to exit),
and follow up with SIGKILL. If the /run/nextroot/ directory exists
(which may be a regular directory, a directory mount point or a symlink
to either) then it will switch the file system root to it. It then
reexecutes the service manager off the (possibly now new) root file
system, which will enqueue a new boot transaction as in a normal reboot.
Such a userspace-only reboot operation permits updating or resetting the
entirety of userspace with minimal downtime, as the reboot operation
does not transition through:
• The second phase of regular shutdown, as implemented by systemd-
shutdown(8).
• The third phase of regular shutdown, i.e. the return to the initrd
context.
• The hardware reboot operation.
• The firmware initialization.
• The boot loader initialization.
• The kernel initialization.
• The initrd initialization.
However, this form of reboot comes with drawbacks as well:
• The OS update remains incomplete, as the kernel is not reset and
continues running.
• Kernel settings (such as /proc/sys/ settings, a.k.a. "sysctl", or
/sys/ settings) are not reset.
These limitations may be addressed by various means, which are outside
of the scope of this documentation, such as kernel live-patching and
sufficiently comprehensive /etc/sysctl.d/ files.
RESOURCE PASS-THROUGH
Various runtime OS resources can passed from a system runtime to the
next, through the userspace reboot operation. Specifically:
• File descriptors placed in the file descriptor store of services
that remain active until the very end are passed to the next boot,
where they are placed in the file descriptor store of the same unit.
For this to work, units must declare DefaultDependencies=no (and
avoid a manual Conflicts=shutdown.target or similar) to ensure they
are not terminated as usual during the system shutdown operation.
Alternatively, use FileDescriptorStorePreserve= to allow the file
descriptor store to remain pinned even when the unit is down. See
systemd.service(5) for details about the file descriptor store.
• Similar to this, file descriptors associated with .socket units
remain open (and connectible) if the units are not stopped during
the transition. (Achieved by DefaultDependencies=no.)
• The /run/ file system remains mounted and populated and may be used
to pass state information between such userspace reboot cycles.
• Service processes may continue to run over the transition, past
soft-reboot and into the next session, if they are placed in
services that remain active until the very end of shutdown (which
again is achieved via DefaultDependencies=no). They must also be set
up to avoid being killed by the aforementioned SIGTERM and SIGKILL
via SurviveFinalKillSignal=yes, and also be configured to avoid
being stopped on isolate via IgnoreOnIsolate=yes. They also have to
be configured to be stopped on normal shutdown, reboot and
maintenance mode. Finally, they have to be ordered after
basic.target to ensure correct ordering on boot. Note that in case
any new or custom units are used to isolate to, or that implement an
equivalent shutdown functionality, they will also have to be
configured manually for correct ordering and conflicting. For
example:
[Unit]
Description=My Surviving Service
SurviveFinalKillSignal=yes
IgnoreOnIsolate=yes
DefaultDependencies=no
After=basic.target
Conflicts=reboot.target kexec.target poweroff.target halt.target rescue.target emergency.target
Before=shutdown.target rescue.target emergency.target
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=sleep infinity
• On top of the above, templated units also need a configuration file
for their slice, as they by default use a slice named after the
non-templated part of the unit. For example, for a foo@test.service
instance, a system-foo.slice unit may be added with the following
content:
[Unit]
SurviveFinalKillSignal=yes
IgnoreOnIsolate=yes
DefaultDependencies=no
• File system mounts may remain mounted during the transition, and
complex storage attached, if configured to remain until the very end
of the shutdown process. (Also achieved via DefaultDependencies=no,
and by avoiding Conflicts=umount.target)
• If the unit publishes a service over D-Bus, the connection needs to
be re-established after soft-reboot as the D-Bus broker will be
stopped and then started again. When using the sd-bus(3) library
this can be achieved by adapting the following example.
/* SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT-0 */
/* A D-Bus service that automatically reconnects when the system bus is
* restarted.
*
* Compile with 'cc sd_bus_service_reconnect.c $(pkg-config --libs --cflags libsystemd)'
*
* To allow the program to take ownership of the name 'org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample',
* add the following as /etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample.conf
* and then reload the broker with 'systemctl reload dbus':
<?xml version="1.0"?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
<!DOCTYPE busconfig PUBLIC "-//freedesktop//DTD D-BUS Bus Configuration 1.0//EN"
"http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/dbus/1.0/busconfig.dtd">
<busconfig>
<policy user="root">
<allow own="org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample"/>
<allow send_destination="org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample"/>
<allow receive_sender="org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample"/>
</policy>
<policy context="default">
<allow send_destination="org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample"/>
<allow receive_sender="org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample"/>
</policy>
</busconfig>
*
* To get the property via busctl:
*
* $ busctl --user get-property org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample \
* /org/freedesktop/ReconnectExample \
* org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample \
* Example
* s "example"
*/
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <systemd/sd-bus.h>
#define _cleanup_(f) __attribute__((cleanup(f)))
static int log_error(int r, const char *str) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s failed: %s\n", str, strerror(-r));
return r;
}
typedef struct object {
const char *example;
sd_bus **bus;
sd_event **event;
} object;
static int property_get(
sd_bus *bus,
const char *path,
const char *interface,
const char *property,
sd_bus_message *reply,
void *userdata,
sd_bus_error *error) {
object *o = userdata;
if (strcmp(property, "Example") == 0)
return sd_bus_message_append(reply, "s", o->example);
return sd_bus_error_setf(error,
SD_BUS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_PROPERTY,
"Unknown property '%s'",
property);
}
/* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_add_object.html */
static const sd_bus_vtable vtable[] = {
SD_BUS_VTABLE_START(0),
SD_BUS_PROPERTY(
"Example", "s",
property_get,
0,
SD_BUS_VTABLE_PROPERTY_CONST),
SD_BUS_VTABLE_END
};
static int setup(object *o);
static int on_disconnect(sd_bus_message *message, void *userdata, sd_bus_error *ret_error) {
int r;
r = setup((object *)userdata);
if (r < 0) {
object *o = userdata;
r = sd_event_exit(*o->event, r);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_event_exit()");
}
return 1;
}
/* Ensure the event loop exits with a clear error if acquiring the well-known
* service name fails */
static int request_name_callback(sd_bus_message *m, void *userdata, sd_bus_error *ret_error) {
int r;
if (!sd_bus_message_is_method_error(m, NULL))
return 1;
const sd_bus_error *error = sd_bus_message_get_error(m);
if (sd_bus_error_has_names(error, SD_BUS_ERROR_TIMEOUT, SD_BUS_ERROR_NO_REPLY))
return 1; /* The bus is not available, try again later */
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to request name: %s\n", error->message);
object *o = userdata;
r = sd_event_exit(*o->event, -sd_bus_error_get_errno(error));
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_event_exit()");
return 1;
}
static int setup(object *o) {
int r;
/* If we are reconnecting, then the bus object needs to be closed, detached
* from the event loop and recreated.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_detach_event.html
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_close_unref.html
*/
if (*o->bus) {
r = sd_bus_detach_event(*o->bus);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_detach_event()");
*o->bus = sd_bus_close_unref(*o->bus);
}
/* Set up a new bus object for the system bus, configure it to wait for D-Bus
* to be available instead of failing if it is not, and start it. All the
* following operations are asynchronous and will not block waiting for D-Bus
* to be available.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_new.html
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_set_address.html
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_set_bus_client.html
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_negotiate_creds.html
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_set_watch_bind.html
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_set_connected_signal.html
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_start.html
*/
r = sd_bus_new(o->bus);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_new()");
r = sd_bus_set_address(*o->bus, "unix:path=/run/dbus/system_bus_socket");
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_set_address()");
r = sd_bus_set_bus_client(*o->bus, 1);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_set_bus_client()");
r = sd_bus_negotiate_creds(*o->bus, 1, SD_BUS_CREDS_UID|SD_BUS_CREDS_EUID|SD_BUS_CREDS_EFFECTIVE_CAPS);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_negotiate_creds()");
r = sd_bus_set_watch_bind(*o->bus, 1);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_set_watch_bind()");
r = sd_bus_start(*o->bus);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_start()");
/* Publish an interface on the bus, specifying our well-known object access
* path and public interface name.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_add_object.html
* https://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-tutorial.html
*/
r = sd_bus_add_object_vtable(*o->bus,
NULL,
"/org/freedesktop/ReconnectExample",
"org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample",
vtable,
o);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_add_object_vtable()");
/* By default, the service is only assigned an ephemeral name. Also add a
* well-known one, so that clients know whom to call. This needs to be
* asynchronous, as D-Bus might not be yet available. The callback will check
* whether the error is expected or not, in case it fails.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_request_name.html
*/
r = sd_bus_request_name_async(*o->bus,
NULL,
"org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample",
0,
request_name_callback,
o);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_request_name_async()");
/* When D-Bus is disconnected this callback will be invoked, which will set up
* the connection again. This needs to be asynchronous, as D-Bus might not yet
* be available.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_match_signal_async.html
*/
r = sd_bus_match_signal_async(*o->bus,
NULL,
"org.freedesktop.DBus.Local",
NULL,
"org.freedesktop.DBus.Local",
"Disconnected",
on_disconnect,
NULL,
o);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_match_signal_async()");
/* Attach the bus object to the event loop so that calls and signals are
* processed.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_attach_event.html
*/
r = sd_bus_attach_event(*o->bus, *o->event, 0);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_attach_event()");
return 0;
}
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
/* The bus should be relinquished before the program terminates. The cleanup
* attribute allows us to do it nicely and cleanly whenever we exit the block.
*/
_cleanup_(sd_bus_flush_close_unrefp) sd_bus *bus = NULL;
_cleanup_(sd_event_unrefp) sd_event *event = NULL;
object o = {
.example = "example",
.bus = &bus,
.event = &event,
};
int r;
/* Create an event loop data structure, with default parameters.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_event_default.html
*/
r = sd_event_default(&event);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_event_default()");
/* By default, the event loop will terminate when all sources have disappeared,
* so we have to keep it 'occupied'. Register signal handling to do so.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_event_add_signal.html
*/
r = sd_event_add_signal(event, NULL, SIGINT|SD_EVENT_SIGNAL_PROCMASK, NULL, NULL);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_event_add_signal(SIGINT)");
r = sd_event_add_signal(event, NULL, SIGTERM|SD_EVENT_SIGNAL_PROCMASK, NULL, NULL);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_event_add_signal(SIGTERM)");
r = setup(&o);
if (r < 0)
return EXIT_FAILURE;
/* Enter the main loop, it will exit only on sigint/sigterm.
* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_event_loop.html
*/
r = sd_event_loop(event);
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_event_loop()");
/* https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_bus_release_name.html */
r = sd_bus_release_name(bus, "org.freedesktop.ReconnectExample");
if (r < 0)
return log_error(r, "sd_bus_release_name()");
return 0;
}
Even though passing resources from one soft reboot cycle to the next is
possible this way, we strongly suggest to use this functionality
sparingly only, as it creates a more fragile system as resources from
different versions of the OS and applications might be mixed with
unforeseen consequences. In particular it is recommended to avoid
allowing processes to survive the soft reboot operation, as this means
code updates will necessarily be incomplete, and processes typically pin
various other resources (such as the file system they are backed by),
thus increasing memory usage (as two versions of the OS/application/file
system might be kept in memory). Leaving processes running during a
soft-reboot operation requires disconnecting the service comprehensively
from the rest of the OS, i.e. minimizing IPC and reducing sharing of
resources with the rest of the OS. A possible mechanism to achieve this
is the concept of Portable Services[1], but make sure no resource from
the host's OS filesystems is pinned via BindPaths= or similar unit
settings, otherwise the old, originating filesystem will remain mounted
as long as the unit is running.
NOTES
Note that because systemd-shutdown(8) is not executed, the executables
in /usr/lib/systemd/system-shutdown/ are not executed either.
Note that systemd-soft-reboot.service (and related units) should never
be executed directly. Instead, trigger system shutdown with a command
such as systemctl soft-reboot.
Note that if a new root file system has been set up on "/run/nextroot/",
a soft-reboot will be performed when the reboot command is invoked.
SEE ALSO
systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.special(7), systemd-
poweroff.service(8), systemd-suspend.service(8), bootup(7)
NOTES
1. Portable Services
https://systemd.io/PORTABLE_SERVICES
systemd 257.9 SYSTEMD-SO...T.SERVICE(8)
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