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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | KERNEL COMMAND LINE | SEE ALSO | NOTES | COLOPHON |
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SYSTEMD-...ENERATOR(8) systemd-gpt-auto-generator SYSTEMD-...ENERATOR(8)
systemd-gpt-auto-generator - Generator for automatically
discovering and mounting root, /home/, /srv/, /var/ and /var/tmp/
partitions, as well as discovering and enabling swap partitions,
based on GPT partition type GUIDs
/usr/lib/systemd/system-generators/systemd-gpt-auto-generator
systemd-gpt-auto-generator is a unit generator that automatically
discovers the root partition, /home/, /srv/, /var/, /var/tmp/, the
EFI System Partition (ESP), the Extended Boot Loader Partition
(XBOOTLDR), and swap partitions and creates mount and swap units
for them, based on the partition type GUIDs of GUID partition
tables (GPT). See UEFI Specification[1], chapter 5 for more
details. It implements the Discoverable Partitions
Specification[2].
Note that this generator has no effect on non-GPT systems. It will
also not create mount point configuration for directories which
already contain files or if the mount point is explicitly
configured in fstab(5). Additionally no unit will be created for
the ESP or the XBOOTLDR partition if mount entries are found in
the /boot/ or /efi/ hierarchies in fstab(5).
If the units this generator creates are overridden, for example by
units in directories with higher precedence, drop-ins and
additional dependencies created by this generator might still be
used.
When run in the initial RAM disk (initrd) this generator can
automatically search for the root file system. Specifically:
• It will look for the root partition on the same physical disk
where the EFI System Partition (ESP) is located. Note that
support from the boot loader is required for this to work: the
EFI variable LoaderDevicePartUUID of the
4a67b082-0a4c-41cf-b6c7-440b29bb8c4f vendor UUID is used to
determine from which partition (and hence disk) the system was
booted. If the boot loader does not set this variable, this
generator will not be able to detect the root partition. See
the Boot Loader Interface[3] for details.
• Alternatively, it will look for the root file system on a
loopback block device whose ".lo_name" field is set to one of
the literal strings "rootdisk" or "rootdisk.raw". This field
can be set via losetup's --loop-ref= string. For images
downloaded via systemd-import-generator(8) make sure to set
the "blockdev" option and set the local name string to
"rootdisk" to achieve this effect. Note that discovery of the
root file system on loopback block devices like this is only
done if "root=gpt-auto" or "root=dissect" is specified
explicitly on the kernel command line, unlike the discovery
based on the boot loader reported ESP which is also enabled if
no "root=" parameter is specified at all. (The latter relies
on systemd-udevd.service's /dev/gpt-auto-root block device
symlink generation).
When run on the host system (i.e. after successfully transitioning
out of the initrd into the root filesystem) this generator will
look for all other partitions on the same physical disk as the
root partition. For this discovery, boot loader support is not
required. Moreover, it is not required that the root partition was
automatically discovered by the initrd (as described above) for
the discovery of the non-root file partitions to take place. Or in
other words: automatic discovery of the root file system and of
the non-root file systems are independent operations, that do not
rely on each other, and are done during two distinct phases of the
boot process (one in the initrd, the other after). These
partitions will not be searched for on systems where the root file
system is distributed on multiple disks, for example via btrfs
RAID.
The root partition can be configured explicitly by symlinking
/run/systemd/volatile-root to /dev/block/$major:$minor. This is
especially useful if the root mount has been replaced by some form
of volatile file system (overlayfs).
systemd-gpt-auto-generator is useful for centralizing file system
configuration in the partition table and making configuration in
/etc/fstab or on the kernel command line unnecessary.
This generator looks for the partitions based on their partition
type GUID. The following partition type GUIDs are identified:
Table 1. Partition Type GUIDs
┌─────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ Partition │ GUID │ Name │ Mount Point │ Explanation │
│ Type │ │ │ │ │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_X86_64 │ 4f68bce3-e8cd-4db1-96e7-fbcaf984b709 │ Root │ / │ The first │
│ │ │ Partition │ │ partition │
│ │ │ (x86-64) │ │ with this │
│ │ │ │ │ type UUID, │
│ │ │ │ │ located on │
│ │ │ │ │ the same │
│ │ │ │ │ disk as the │
│ │ │ │ │ ESP used for │
│ │ │ │ │ booting, is │
│ │ │ │ │ used as the │
│ │ │ │ │ root file │
│ │ │ │ │ system / on │
│ │ │ │ │ AMD64 / │
│ │ │ │ │ 64-bit x86 │
│ │ │ │ │ systems. │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_ARM64 │ b921b045-1df0-41c3-af44-4c6f280d3fae │ Root │ / │ The first │
│ │ │ Partition │ │ partition │
│ │ │ (64-bit ARM) │ │ with this │
│ │ │ │ │ type UUID, │
│ │ │ │ │ located on │
│ │ │ │ │ the same │
│ │ │ │ │ disk as the │
│ │ │ │ │ ESP used for │
│ │ │ │ │ booting, is │
│ │ │ │ │ used as the │
│ │ │ │ │ root file │
│ │ │ │ │ system / on │
│ │ │ │ │ AArch64 / │
│ │ │ │ │ 64-bit ARM │
│ │ │ │ │ systems. │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_ALPHA │ ... │ Root │ / │ The first │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_ARC │ │ partitions │ │ partition │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_ARM │ │ for other │ │ with the │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_ARM64 │ │ architectures │ │ type UUID │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_IA64 │ │ │ │ matching the │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_LOONGARCH64 │ │ │ │ architecture, │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_MIPS │ │ │ │ located on │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_MIPS64 │ │ │ │ the same │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_MIPS_LE │ │ │ │ disk as the │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_MIPS64_LE │ │ │ │ ESP used for │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_PARISC │ │ │ │ booting, is │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_PPC │ │ │ │ used as the │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_PPC64 │ │ │ │ root file │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_PPC64_LE │ │ │ │ system /. │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_RISCV32 │ │ │ │ For the full │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_RISCV64 │ │ │ │ list and │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_S390 │ │ │ │ constant │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_S390X │ │ │ │ values, see │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_TILEGX │ │ │ │ Discoverable │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_X86 │ │ │ │ Partitions │
│ SD_GPT_ROOT_X86_64 │ │ │ │ Specification[2]. │
│ SD_GPT_USR_ALPHA │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_ARC │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_ARM │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_IA64 │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_LOONGARCH64 │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_MIPS_LE │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_MIPS64_LE │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_PARISC │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_PPC │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_PPC64 │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_PPC64_LE │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_RISCV32 │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_RISCV64 │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_S390 │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_S390X │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_TILEGX │ │ │ │ │
│ SD_GPT_USR_X86 │ │ │ │ │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_HOME │ 933ac7e1-2eb4-4f13-b844-0e14e2aef915 │ Home │ /home/ │ The first │
│ │ │ Partition │ │ partition with │
│ │ │ │ │ this type UUID on │
│ │ │ │ │ the same disk as │
│ │ │ │ │ the root │
│ │ │ │ │ partition is │
│ │ │ │ │ mounted to │
│ │ │ │ │ /home/. │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_SRV │ 3b8f8425-20e0-4f3b-907f-1a25a76f98e8 │ Server Data │ /srv/ │ The first │
│ │ │ Partition │ │ partition with │
│ │ │ │ │ this type UUID on │
│ │ │ │ │ the same disk as │
│ │ │ │ │ the root │
│ │ │ │ │ partition is │
│ │ │ │ │ mounted to /srv/. │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_VAR │ 4d21b016-b534-45c2-a9fb-5c16e091fd2d │ Variable Data │ /var/ │ The first │
│ │ │ Partition │ │ partition with │
│ │ │ │ │ this type UUID on │
│ │ │ │ │ the same disk as │
│ │ │ │ │ the root │
│ │ │ │ │ partition is │
│ │ │ │ │ mounted to /var/ │
│ │ │ │ │ — under the │
│ │ │ │ │ condition its │
│ │ │ │ │ partition UUID │
│ │ │ │ │ matches the first │
│ │ │ │ │ 128 bit of the │
│ │ │ │ │ HMAC-SHA256 of │
│ │ │ │ │ the GPT type uuid │
│ │ │ │ │ of this partition │
│ │ │ │ │ keyed by the │
│ │ │ │ │ machine ID of the │
│ │ │ │ │ installation │
│ │ │ │ │ stored in │
│ │ │ │ │ machine-id(5). │
│ │ │ │ │ This can be │
│ │ │ │ │ generated using │
│ │ │ │ │ systemd-id128(1). │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_TMP │ 7ec6f557-3bc5-4aca-b293-16ef5df639d1 │ Temporary │ /var/tmp/ │ The first │
│ │ │ Data │ │ partition with │
│ │ │ Partition │ │ this type UUID on │
│ │ │ │ │ the same disk as │
│ │ │ │ │ the root │
│ │ │ │ │ partition is │
│ │ │ │ │ mounted to │
│ │ │ │ │ /var/tmp/. │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_SWAP │ 0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f │ Swap │ n/a │ All partitions │
│ │ │ │ │ with this type │
│ │ │ │ │ UUID on the same │
│ │ │ │ │ disk as the root │
│ │ │ │ │ partition are │
│ │ │ │ │ used as swap. │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_ESP │ c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b │ EFI System │ /efi/ or │ The first │
│ │ │ Partition │ /boot/ │ partition with │
│ │ │ (ESP) │ │ this type UUID │
│ │ │ │ │ located on the │
│ │ │ │ │ same disk as the │
│ │ │ │ │ root partition is │
│ │ │ │ │ mounted to /boot/ │
│ │ │ │ │ or /efi/, see │
│ │ │ │ │ below. │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_XBOOTLDR │ bc13c2ff-59e6-4262-a352-b275fd6f7172 │ Extended Boot │ /boot/ │ The first │
│ │ │ Loader │ │ partition with │
│ │ │ Partition │ │ this type UUID │
│ │ │ │ │ located on the │
│ │ │ │ │ same disk as the │
│ │ │ │ │ root partition is │
│ │ │ │ │ mounted to │
│ │ │ │ │ /boot/, see │
│ │ │ │ │ below. │
└─────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────┴───────────────────┘
This generator understands the following attribute flags for
partitions:
Table 2. Partition Attribute Flags
┌──────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┬─────────────────┬───────────────┐
│ Flag │ Value │ Applicable to │ Explanation │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────┼─────────────────┼───────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_FLAG_READ_ONLY │ 0x1000000000000000 │ /, /home/, │ Partition is │
│ │ │ /srv/, /var/, │ mounted │
│ │ │ /var/tmp/, │ read-only │
│ │ │ Extended Boot │ │
│ │ │ Loader │ │
│ │ │ Partition │ │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────┼─────────────────┼───────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_FLAG_NO_AUTO │ 0x8000000000000000 │ /, /home/, │ Partition is │
│ │ │ /srv/, /var/, │ not mounted │
│ │ │ /var/tmp/, │ automatically │
│ │ │ Extended Boot │ │
│ │ │ Loader │ │
│ │ │ Partition │ │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────┼─────────────────┼───────────────┤
│ SD_GPT_FLAG_NO_BLOCK_IO_PROTOCOL │ 0x0000000000000002 │ EFI System │ Partition is │
│ │ │ Partition (ESP) │ not mounted │
│ │ │ │ automatically │
└──────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────┴─────────────────┴───────────────┘
The /home/, /srv/, /var/, /var/tmp/ and swap partitions may be
encrypted in LUKS format. In this case, a device mapper device is
set up under the names /dev/mapper/home, /dev/mapper/srv,
/dev/mapper/var, /dev/mapper/tmp or /dev/mapper/swap. Note that
this might create conflicts if the same partition is listed in
/etc/crypttab with a different device mapper device name.
When systemd is running in the initrd the / partition may be
encrypted with LUKS as well. In this case, a device mapper device
is set up under the name /dev/mapper/root, and a sysroot.mount is
set up that mounts the device under /sysroot. For more
information, see bootup(7).
Mount and automount units for the EFI System Partition (ESP) and
Extended Boot Loader Partition (XBOOTLDR) are generated on EFI
systems. If the disk contains an XBOOTLDR partition, as defined in
the Boot Loader Specification[4], it is made available at /boot/.
This generator creates an automount unit; the mount will only be
activated on-demand when accessed. The mount point will be created
if necessary.
The ESP is mounted to /boot/ if that directory exists and is not
used for XBOOTLDR, and otherwise to /efi/. Same as for /boot/, an
automount unit is used. The mount point will be created if
necessary.
No configuration is created for mount points that are configured
in fstab(5) or when the target directory contains files.
When using this generator in conjunction with btrfs file systems,
make sure to set the correct default subvolumes on them, using
btrfs subvolume set-default.
If the system was booted via systemd-stub(7) and the stub reported
to userspace that the kernel image was measured to a TPM2 PCR,
then any discovered root and /var/ volume identifiers (and volume
encryption key in case it is encrypted) will be automatically
measured into PCR 15 on activation, via systemd-pcrfs@.service(8).
Mount constraint metadata contained in the file systems is
validated by pulling in systemd-validatefs@.service(8) for
generated mounts.
systemd-gpt-auto-generator implements systemd.generator(7).
systemd-gpt-auto-generator understands the following kernel
command line parameters:
systemd.gpt_auto, rd.systemd.gpt_auto
Those options take an optional boolean argument, and default
to yes. The generator is enabled by default, and a false value
may be used to disable it (e.g. "systemd.gpt_auto=0").
Added in version 242.
systemd.image_policy=
Takes an image dissection policy string as argument (as per
systemd.image-policy(7)), and allows enforcing a policy on
dissection and use of the automatically discovered GPT
partition table entries.
Note that the specified image policy is not taken into account
for automatic root or /usr/ file system discovery unless
root=dissect/mount.usr=dissect (or root=dissect-force) are
specified. (The policy will always be applied to the other
auto-discoverable partition types.)
Added in version 254.
systemd.image_filter=
Takes an image dissection filter string as argument (as per
systemd.image-filter(7)), and allows enforcing a set of
globbing patterns on the partition matching of the
automatically discovered GPT partition table entries.
Note that the specified image filter is not taken into account
for automatic root or /usr/ file system discovery unless
root=dissect/mount.usr=dissect (or root=dissect-force) are
specified. (The filter will always be applied to the other
auto-discoverable partition types.)
Added in version 258.
root=, rootfstype=, rootflags=
When root= is used with the special value "gpt-auto", basic
automatic discovery of the root partition based on the GPT
partition type is enabled. Use of the root partition is
delayed until factory reset mode is left, in case it is
enabled during the current boot. See Factory Reset[5] for more
information on that. If "gpt-auto-force" is specified
automatic discovery of the root partition is enabled, ignoring
any factory reset mode.
If root= is set to the special value "dissect" full automatic
discovery of the root partition based on GPT partition
information is enabled. This is a superset of root=gpt-auto,
as it automatically configures Verity partitions (including
signature-based setup) following the logic defined for that in
the Discoverable Partitions Specification[6]. Moreover it
takes the configured image policy and image filter into
account for all partition types, including the root file
system. "root=dissect" will wait for the factory reset phase
to be completed if it is in effect before activating the root
file system. Use "root=dissect-force" to ignore the factory
reset phase and activate the root file system immediately.
Any other value (i.e. besides "gpt-auto", "gpt-auto-force",
"dissect", "dissect-force") disables automatic root file
system discovery.
If root= is not specified at all on the kernel command line
automatic discovery of the root partition via the ESP reported
by the boot loader is also enabled (taking factory reset state
into account, i.e. equivalent to "root=gpt-auto"), however in
this case discovery based on the loopback block device
".lo_name" field is not enabled.
The rootfstype= and rootflags= options are used to select the
file system type and options when the root file system is
automatically discovered.
Added in version 242.
mount.usr=, mount.usrfstype=, mount.usrflags=
Similar to root=, rootfstype=, rootflags= (see above), but
applies to the /usr/ partition instead. Note that the
"gpt-auto", "gpt-auto-force", "dissect-force" settings that
root= understands are not supported by mount.usr= (however
"dissect" is).
Also note that automatic partition discovery for /usr/ must be
enabled explicitly, unlike the discovery for the root file
system, which is enabled if no root= parameter is passed at
all.
Added in version 258.
rw, ro
Mount the root partition read-write or read-only initially.
Note that unlike most kernel command line options these
settings do not override configuration in the file system, and
the file system may be remounted later. See
systemd-remount-fs.service(8).
Added in version 242.
systemd.swap=
Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
without an argument. If disabled, automatic discovery of swap
partition(s) based on GPT partition type is disabled. Defaults
to enabled.
Added in version 254.
systemd(1), systemd.mount(5), systemd.swap(5),
systemd-fstab-generator(8), systemd-cryptsetup@.service(8),
systemd-pcrfs@.service(8), systemd-validatefs@.service(8),
machine-id(5), cryptsetup(8), fstab(5), btrfs(8)
1. UEFI Specification
https://uefi.org/specifications
2. Discoverable Partitions Specification
https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/discoverable_partitions_specification
3. Boot Loader Interface
https://systemd.io/BOOT_LOADER_INTERFACE
4. Boot Loader Specification
https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/boot_loader_specification
5. Factory Reset
https://systemd.io/FACTORY_RESET
6. Discoverable Partitions Specification
https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/discoverable_partitions_specification/
This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service
manager) project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩. If you have a
bug report for this manual page, see
⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩.
This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At that
time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2025-08-11.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
systemd 258~rc2 SYSTEMD-...ENERATOR(8)
Pages that refer to this page: repart.d(5), systemd.mount(5), sysupdate.d(5), file-hierarchy(7), kernel-command-line(7), systemd-boot(7), systemd.directives(7), systemd.generator(7), systemd.image-filter(7), systemd.image-policy(7), systemd.index(7), systemd.special(7), systemd-stub(7), systemd-fstab-generator(8), systemd-import-generator(8), systemd-pcrphase.service(8), systemd-remount-fs.service(8), systemd-validatefs@.service(8)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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