Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
book: Move /opt redirection guidance to building
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
This is where I expected to find it.

Signed-off-by: Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org>
  • Loading branch information
cgwalters committed May 13, 2024
1 parent 9e424c2 commit 26dabbe
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 3 changed files with 38 additions and 12 deletions.
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions docs/.gitignore
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
book
mermaid*.js
32 changes: 32 additions & 0 deletions docs/src/building/guidance.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -138,3 +138,35 @@ for example, although this can run afoul of SELinux labeling.

There is a dedicated document for [secrets](secrets.md),
which is a special case of configuration.

## Handling read-only vs writable locations

The high level pattern for bootc systems is summarized again
this way:

- Put read-only data and executables in `/usr`
- Put configuration files in `/usr` (if they're static), or `/etc` if they need to be machine-local
- Put "data" (log files, databases, etc.) underneath `/var`

However, some software installs to `/opt/examplepkg` or another
location outside of `/usr`, and may include all three types of data
undernath its single toplevel directory. For example, it
may write log files to `/opt/examplepkg/logs`. A simple way to handle
this is to change the directories that need to be writble to symbolic links
to `/var`:

```dockerfile
RUN apt|dnf install examplepkg && \
mv /opt/examplepkg/logs && /var/log/examplepkg && \
ln -sr /opt/examplepkg/logs /var/log/examplepkg
```

The [Fedora/CentOS bootc puppet example](https://gitlab.com/fedora/bootc/examples/-/tree/main/opt-puppet)
is one instance of this.

Another option is to configure the systemd unit launching the service to do these mounts
dynamically via e.g.

```
BindPaths=/var/log/exampleapp:/opt/exampleapp/logs
```
17 changes: 5 additions & 12 deletions docs/src/filesystem.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -121,18 +121,11 @@ Besides those, for other toplevel directories such as `/usr` `/opt`, they will b
In the default suggested model of using composefs (per above) the `/opt` directory will be read-only, alongside
other toplevels such as `/usr`.

Some software expects to be able to write to its own directory in `/opt/exampleapp`. A common
pattern is to use a symbolic link to redirect to e.g. `/var` for things like log files:
Some software (especially "3rd party" deb/rpm packages) expect to be able to write to
a subdirectory of `/opt` such as `/opt/examplepkg`.

```
RUN rmdir /opt/exampleapp/logs && ln -sr /var/log/exampleapp /opt/exampleapp/logs
```

Another option is to configure the systemd unit launching the service to do these mounts
dynamically via e.g.
```
BindPaths=/var/log/exampleapp:/opt/exampleapp/logs
```
See [building images](building/guidance.md) for recommendations on how to build
container images and adjust the filesystem for cases like this.

#### Enabling transient root

Expand All @@ -145,4 +138,4 @@ transient = true
```

option in `prepare-root.conf`. In particular this will allow software to write (transiently) to `/opt`,
with symlinks to `/var` for content that should persist.
with symlinks to `/var` for content that should persist.

0 comments on commit 26dabbe

Please sign in to comment.