--- name: "tmpfs-config" section: "5" platform: "linux" package: "initscripts" version: "3.14-4" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/tmpfs-config" --- # tmpfs-config(5) variables that configure tmpfs filesystems mounted during boot ## NAME tmpfs-config - variables that configure tmpfs filesystems mounted during boot ## DESCRIPTION The */etc/default/tmpfs* file contains variable settings in POSIX format: - VAR=VAL Only one assignment is allowed per line. Comments (starting with '#') are also allowed. This file is for the configuration of tmpfs filesystems mounted in early boot, before filesystems from /etc/fstab are mounted. This currently includes the filesystems /run, /run/lock, /run/shm and /tmp. /run is required to be a tmpfs on systems supporting tmpfs mounts. /run/lock and /run/shm may be separate tmpfs mounts, useful for enforcing separate size limits. /tmp is not required to be a tmpfs, and is not mounted as a tmpfs by default. - /run Previously configured using **RAMRUN** in /etc/default/rcS, /run is now always mounted as a ram file system (tmpfs). The size of the tmpfs can be controlled using TMPFS\_SIZE and RUN\_SIZE. If desired, the defaults may also be overridden with an entry in in /etc/fstab, for example: ``` tmpfs /run tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=10%,mode=755 0 0 ``` - The contents of /run will always be lost on system reboot, and it it is no longer explicitly cleaned at boot. Packages can not expect directories in /run to exist after boot. Packages expecting this are buggy and need to be fixed. Note that /run was previously /var/run, and a compatibility symlink or bind mount will be created to allow the old path to continue to function. - /run/lock Previously configured using **RAMLOCK** in /etc/default/rcS. Configured using RAMLOCK, TMPFS\_SIZE and LOCK\_SIZE. If desired, the defaults may also be overridden with an entry in in /etc/fstab, for example: ``` tmpfs /run/lock tmpfs nodev,noexec,nosuid,size=52428800,mode=1777 0 0 ``` - Note that irrespective of these settings, /run/lock will be located on a tmpfs, either one mounted on /run/lock (if RAMLOCK=yes) or one mounted on /run (if RAMLOCK=no), and as a result the contents of /var/lock will always be lost on system reboot, and it it is no longer explicitly cleaned at boot. Packages can not expect directories in /var/lock to exist after boot. Packages expecting this are buggy and need to be fixed. Note that /run/lock was previously /var/lock, and a compatibility symlink or bind mount will be created to allow the old path to continue to function. - /run/shm Previously configured using **RAMSHM** in /etc/default/rcS. Note that the setting in /etc/default/rcS, if present, will still be used, but the setting in /etc/default/tmpfs will take precedence if enabled. Configured using RAMSHM, TMPFS\_SIZE and SHM\_SIZE. If desired, the defaults may also be overridden with an entry in in /etc/fstab, for example: ``` tmpfs /run/shm tmpfs nosuid,nodev,size=40%,mode=1777 0 0 ``` - Packages can not expect directories in /run/shm to exist after boot. Note that /run/shm was previously /dev/shm, and a compatibility symlink or bind mount will be created to allow the old path to continue to function. If an fstab entry for /dev/shm exists instead of /run/shm, then /dev/shm will continue to be used; note that this is only needed for users of newer versions of the Oracle database, which contain a buggy check for /dev/shm. - /tmp Previously configured using **RAMTMP** in /etc/default/rcS. Note that the setting in /etc/default/rcS, if present, will still be used, but the setting in /etc/default/tmpfs will take precedence if enabled. Configured using RAMTMP, TMPFS\_SIZE and TMP\_SIZE. If desired, the defaults may also be overridden with an entry in in /etc/fstab, for example: ``` tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=20%,mode=1777 0 0 ``` - Packages can not expect directories in /tmp to exist after boot. **NOTE: This file is ignored when systemd is used as init system.** ## OPTIONS The following variables can be set. ### Enabling or disabling tmpfs mounts The following options enable specific mounts (with the exception of /run) to be enabled or disabled. Note that the addition of an entry to /etc/fstab for any of the following will enable the mount unconditionally, overriding the setting here. - **RAMLOCK** Mount /run/lock as a tmpfs (separately from /run). Defaults to **yes**; set to **no** to disable (/run/lock will then be part of the /run tmpfs, if available). - **RAMSHM** Mount /run/shm as a tmpfs (separately from /run). Defaults to **yes**; set to **no** to disable (/run/shm will then be part of the /run tmpfs, if available). - **RAMTMP** Mount /tmp as a tmpfs. Defaults to **no**; set to **yes** to enable (/tmp will be part of the root filesystem if disabled). /tmp may also be configured to be a separate mount in /etc/fstab, which will override the RAMTMP setting. ### Configuring size limits for tmpfs mounts The following options configure size limits for tmpfs mounts. Note that the addition of an entry to /etc/fstab will override any of the limits specified here. The following \_SIZE variables are the maximum size (in bytes) that tmpfs filesystems can use. The size will be rounded down to a multiple of the page size, 4096 bytes. If no size is set, TMPFS\_SIZE will be used as the default. More complex mount options may be used by the creation of a suitable entry in /etc/fstab. For example: ``` tmpfs /run tmpfs size=10% 0 0 ``` is equivalent to ``` RUN_SIZE=10% ``` and will override the RUN\_SIZE setting. This will allow additional options such as nr\_blocks and nr\_inodes to be used, and also adjustment of the mode, nodev, nosuid, noexec options should any change from the defaults be necessary. - **TMPFS\_SIZE** Maximum size for all tmpfs filesystems if no specific size is provided. The default is **20%VM** (20% of virtual memory, including swap space). If this is explicitly set to an empty string, the kernel default (50% RAM) will be used. Note that the "%VM" suffix may be used in this and all the \_SIZE settings below, but may not be used in /etc/fstab (the absolute size is calculated by the init scripts). - **RUN\_SIZE** Maximum size of /run (was previously /var/run). The default is 10% core memory; the size required varies widely depending upon the demands of the software being run; this heuristic scales /run usage on system size. Samba in particular has been seen to use at least 50MiB in a large heavily used server. Typical usage is hundreds of KiB, maximum is tens of MiB. - **LOCK\_SIZE** Maximum size of /run/lock (was previously /var/lock). Defaults to 5242880 (5 MiB). Typical usage: tens of KiB; maximum hundreds of KiB. The default of 5 MiB should ensure the limit is never reached. - **SHM\_SIZE** Maximum size of /run/shm (was previously /dev/shm). No default size; the size required varies widely depending upon the demands of the software being run. - **TMP\_SIZE** Maximum size of /tmp. No default size. ### Emergency overflow /tmp If the amount of free space on the root filesystem falls below a certain size, a tmpfs will be mounted on /tmp (irrespective of the RAMTMP setting, which this overrides). This is to permit logins when there would otherwise be too little free space for this to be possible. - **TMP\_OVERFLOW\_LIMIT** Mount a tmpfs on /tmp if the amount of free space on the root filesystem is below the specified limit at boot time (default 1024 KiB). ## AUTHOR Roger Leigh \ ## SEE ALSO [**rcS**(5)](/rcS/5.md), [**tmpfs**(5)](/tmpfs/5.md), [**mount**(8)](/mount/8.md).