SYSTEMD-FIRSTBOOT(1) systemd-firstboot SYSTEMD-FIRSTBOOT(1)
NAME
systemd-firstboot, systemd-firstboot.service - Initialize basic system
settings on or before the first boot-up of a system
SYNOPSIS
systemd-firstboot [OPTIONS...]
systemd-firstboot.service
DESCRIPTION
systemd-firstboot initializes the most basic system settings
interactively on the first boot, or optionally non-interactively when a
system image is created. The service is started if
ConditionFirstBoot=yes is satisfied. This essentially means that /etc/
is empty, see systemd.unit(5) for details.
The following settings may be set up:
• The system locale, more specifically the two locale variables LANG=
and LC_MESSAGES
• The system keyboard map
• The system time zone
• The system hostname
• The machine ID of the system
• The root user's password
Each of the fields may either be queried interactively by users, set
non-interactively on the tool's command line, or be copied from a host
system that is used to set up the system image.
If a setting is already initialized, it will not be overwritten and the
user will not be prompted for the setting.
Note that this tool operates directly on the file system and does not
involve any running system services, unlike localectl(1),
timedatectl(1) or hostnamectl(1). This allows systemd-firstboot to
operate on mounted but not booted disk images and in early boot. It is
not recommended to use systemd-firstboot on the running system while it
is up.
OPTIONS
The following options are understood:
--root=root
Takes a directory path as an argument. All paths will be prefixed
with the given alternate root path, including config search paths.
This is useful to operate on a system image mounted to the
specified directory instead of the host system itself.
--image=path
Takes a path to a disk image file or block device node. If
specified all operations are applied to file system in the
indicated disk image. This is similar to --root= but operates on
file systems stored in disk images or block devices. The disk image
should either contain just a file system or a set of file systems
within a GPT partition table, following the Discoverable Partitions
Specification[1]. For further information on supported disk images,
see systemd-nspawn(1)'s switch of the same name.
--locale=LOCALE, --locale-messages=LOCALE
Sets the system locale, more specifically the LANG= and LC_MESSAGES
settings. The argument should be a valid locale identifier, such as
"de_DE.UTF-8". This controls the locale.conf(5) configuration file.
--keymap=KEYMAP
Sets the system keyboard layout. The argument should be a valid
keyboard map, such as "de-latin1". This controls the "KEYMAP" entry
in the vconsole.conf(5) configuration file.
--timezone=TIMEZONE
Sets the system time zone. The argument should be a valid time zone
identifier, such as "Europe/Berlin". This controls the localtime(5)
symlink.
--hostname=HOSTNAME
Sets the system hostname. The argument should be a hostname,
compatible with DNS. This controls the hostname(5) configuration
file.
--machine-id=ID
Sets the system's machine ID. This controls the machine-id(5) file.
--root-password=PASSWORD, --root-password-file=PATH,
--root-password-hashed=HASHED_PASSWORD
Sets the password of the system's root user. This creates/modifies
the passwd(5) and shadow(5) files. This setting exists in three
forms: --root-password= accepts the password to set directly on the
command line, --root-password-file= reads it from a file and
--root-password-hashed= accepts an already hashed password on the
command line. See shadow(5) for more information on the format of
the hashed password. Note that it is not recommended to specify
plaintext passwords on the command line, as other users might be
able to see them simply by invoking ps(1).
--root-shell=SHELL
Sets the shell of the system's root user. This creates/modifies the
passwd(5) file.
--kernel-command-line=CMDLINE
Sets the system's kernel command line. This controls the
/etc/kernel/cmdline file which is used by kernel-install(8).
--prompt-locale, --prompt-keymap, --prompt-timezone, --prompt-hostname,
--prompt-root-password, --prompt-root-shell
Prompt the user interactively for a specific basic setting. Note
that any explicit configuration settings specified on the command
line take precedence, and the user is not prompted for it.
--prompt
Query the user for locale, keymap, timezone, hostname, root's
password, and root's shell. This is equivalent to specifying
--prompt-locale, --prompt-keymap, --prompt-timezone,
--prompt-hostname, --prompt-root-password, --prompt-root-shell in
combination.
--copy-locale, --copy-keymap, --copy-timezone, --copy-root-password,
--copy-root-shell
Copy a specific basic setting from the host. This only works in
combination with --root= (see above).
--copy
Copy locale, keymap, time zone, root password and shell from the
host. This is equivalent to specifying --copy-locale,
--copy-keymap, --copy-timezone, --copy-root-password,
--copy-root-shell in combination.
--setup-machine-id
Initialize the system's machine ID to a random ID. This only works
in combination with --root=.
--force
systemd-firstboot doesn't modify existing files unless --force is
specified. For modifications to /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow,
systemd-firstboot only modifies the entry of the "root" user
instead of overwriting the entire file.
--delete-root-password
Removes the password of the system's root user, enabling login as
root without a password unless the root account is locked. Note
that this is extremely insecure and hence this option should not be
used lightly.
--welcome=
Takes a boolean argument. By default when prompting the user for
configuration options a brief welcome text is shown before the
first question is asked. Pass false to this option to turn off the
welcome text.
-h, --help
Print a short help text and exit.
--version
Print a short version string and exit.
CREDENTIALS
systemd-firstboot supports the service credentials logic as implemented
by LoadCredential=/SetCredential= (see systemd.exec(1) for details).
The following credentials are used when passed in:
"passwd.hashed-password.root", "passwd.plaintext-password.root"
A hashed or plaintext version of the root password to use, in place
of prompting the user. These credentials are equivalent to the same
ones defined for the systemd-sysusers.service(8) service.
"passwd.shell.root"
Specifies the shell binary to use for the specified account.
Equivalent to the credential of the same name defined for the
systemd-sysusers.service(8) service.
"firstboot.locale", "firstboot.locale-messages"
These credentials specify the locale settings to set during first
boot, in place of prompting the user.
"firstboot.keymap"
This credential specifies the keyboard setting to set during first
boot, in place of prompting the user.
"firstboot.timezone"
This credential specifies the system timezone setting to set during
first boot, in place of prompting the user.
Note that by default the systemd-firstboot.service unit file is set up
to inherit the listed credentials from the service manager. Thus, when
invoking a container with an unpopulated /etc/ for the first time it is
possible to configure the root user's password to be "systemd" like
this:
# systemd-nspawn --image=... --set-credential=firstboot.locale:de_DE.UTF-8 ...
Note that these credentials are only read and applied during the first
boot process. Once they are applied they remain applied for subsequent
boots, and the credentials are not considered anymore.
EXIT STATUS
On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
KERNEL COMMAND LINE
systemd.firstboot=
Takes a boolean argument, defaults to on. If off,
systemd-firstboot.service won't interactively query the user for
basic settings at first boot, even if those settings are not
initialized yet.
SEE ALSO
systemd(1), locale.conf(5), vconsole.conf(5), localtime(5),
hostname(5), machine-id(5), shadow(5), systemd-machine-id-setup(1),
localectl(1), timedatectl(1), hostnamectl(1)
NOTES
1. Discoverable Partitions Specification
https://systemd.io/DISCOVERABLE_PARTITIONS
systemd 252 SYSTEMD-FIRSTBOOT(1)
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