RPM-OSTREED.CONF(5)

📦
version 2026.3 · 6 versions
, in centos-stream 10, fedora 44

💖 rpm-ostreed.conf — the daemon config glow-up 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for rpm-ostreed.conf (section 5 of the manuals, iykyk) and it's literally just the configuration file for the rpm-ostree daemon. grab a strawberry drink, we're doing config ✨

✨ NAME ✨

rpm-ostreed.conf — the rpm-ostree daemon configuration file, periodt 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

/etc/rpm-ostreed.conf

that's it. one path. she's lowkey iconic for that 🌸

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So basically this file configures the rpm-ostree daemon. That's the whole vibe. It's the lil config bestie that tells the daemon how to act 💜

👑 OPTIONS 👑

okay so every single option lives in the "[Daemon]" section. no cap, all of them. here's the whole lineup:

  • AutomaticUpdatePolicy= — this one controls the automatic update policy. the current options are "none", "check", "stage", and "apply". "none" disables automatic updates entirely (she's on do-not-disturb). "check" downloads just enough metadata to check for updates and show them off in rpm-ostree status. it defaults to "none". and heads up — the actual frequency of updates is decided by the rpm-ostreed-automatic.timer(8) unit, not by this. she's just the policy girlie, the timer runs the schedule 💖

the "stage" policy downloads and unpacks the update and queues it up for the next boot. it leaves actually initiating a reboot to other automation tools — that part is not her job. only a small amount of work is left to be done at shutdown time, and that happens via the ostree-finalize-staged.service systemd unit ✨

and finally, the "apply" policy will currently always initiate a reboot. but — plot twist — in the future it may apply userspace-only fixes without a physical reboot. any reboots initiated via rpm-ostree will default to honoring active systemd inhibitors. for example, if you wanna temporarily suppress automatic "apply" updates while you're debugging a system, you can use systemd-inhibit bash; exiting the shell will lift the inhibitor. cute lil safety net fr fr 🫶

  • IdleExitTimeout= — controls the time in seconds of inactivity before the daemon exits. use 0 to disable auto-exit (she never leaves the party). defaults to 60 💤
  • LockLayering= — controls whether any mutation of the base OSTree commit is supported (for example, package overlays or overrides, initramfs overlays or regeneration). defaults to false. like, she's locking the layering door 🔒
  • Recommends= — when layering, this says whether to install weak dependencies. defaults to true 🌈

🌟 EXAMPLE 🌟

so enabling the automatic updates "check" policy is a two step process, bestie. don't skip a step, that's not the vibe.

First, edit /etc/rpm-ostreed.conf to include AutomaticUpdatePolicy=check, and then use rpm-ostree reload to reload the rpm-ostreed service.

Next, enable the timer using systemctl enable rpm-ostreed-automatic.timer --now

When successful, the output from rpm-ostree status will display output similar to the following:

$ rpm-ostree status
State: idle; auto updates enabled (check; last run 22min ago)
...

see that? "auto updates enabled (check; last run 22min ago)". that's her thriving 💅🔥

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 this came to you straight from the rpm-ostree source, filed under RPM-OSTREED.CONF(5) — go forth and configure responsibly, ily, mwah 💖✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from