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2<!--*-nxml-*-->
3<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
4  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
5<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6<refentry id="systemd-random-seed.service" conditional='ENABLE_RANDOMSEED'>
7
8  <refentryinfo>
9    <title>systemd-random-seed.service</title>
10    <productname>systemd</productname>
11  </refentryinfo>
12
13  <refmeta>
14    <refentrytitle>systemd-random-seed.service</refentrytitle>
15    <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
16  </refmeta>
17
18  <refnamediv>
19    <refname>systemd-random-seed.service</refname>
20    <refname>systemd-random-seed</refname>
21    <refpurpose>Load and save the system random seed at boot and shutdown</refpurpose>
22  </refnamediv>
23
24  <refsynopsisdiv>
25    <para><filename>systemd-random-seed.service</filename></para>
26    <para><filename>/usr/lib/systemd/random-seed</filename></para>
27  </refsynopsisdiv>
28
29  <refsect1>
30    <title>Description</title>
31
32    <para><filename>systemd-random-seed.service</filename> is a service that loads an on-disk random seed
33    into the kernel entropy pool during boot and saves it at shutdown. See
34    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>random</refentrytitle><manvolnum>4</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
35    details. By default, no entropy is credited when the random seed is written into the kernel entropy pool,
36    but this may be changed with <varname>$SYSTEMD_RANDOM_SEED_CREDIT</varname>, see below.  On disk the random
37    seed is stored in <filename>/var/lib/systemd/random-seed</filename>.</para>
38
39    <para>Note that this service runs relatively late during the early boot phase, i.e. generally after the
40    initial RAM disk (initrd) completed its work, and the <filename>/var/</filename> file system has been
41    mounted writable. Many system services require entropy much earlier than this — this service is hence of
42    limited use for complex system. It is recommended to use a boot loader that can pass an initial random
43    seed to the kernel to ensure that entropy is available from earliest boot on, for example
44    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-boot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>, with
45    its <command>bootctl random-seed</command> functionality.</para>
46
47    <para>When loading the random seed from disk, the file is immediately updated with a new seed retrieved
48    from the kernel, in order to ensure no two boots operate with the same random seed. This new seed is
49    retrieved synchronously from the kernel, which means the service will not complete start-up until the
50    random pool is fully initialized. On entropy-starved systems this may take a while. This functionality is
51    intended to be used as synchronization point for ordering services that require an initialized entropy
52    pool to function securely (i.e. services that access <filename>/dev/urandom</filename> without any
53    further precautions).</para>
54
55    <para>Care should be taken when creating OS images that are replicated to multiple systems: if the random
56    seed file is included unmodified each system will initialize its entropy pool with the same data, and
57    thus — if otherwise entropy-starved — generate the same or at least guessable random seed streams. As a
58    safety precaution crediting entropy is thus disabled by default. It is recommended to remove the random
59    seed from OS images intended for replication on multiple systems, in which case it is safe to enable
60    entropy crediting, see below. Also see <ulink url="https://systemd.io/BUILDING_IMAGES">Safely Building
61    Images</ulink>.</para>
62
63    <para>See <ulink url="https://systemd.io/RANDOM_SEEDS">Random Seeds</ulink> for further
64    information.</para>
65  </refsect1>
66
67  <refsect1>
68    <title>Environment</title>
69
70    <variablelist class='environment-variables'>
71      <varlistentry>
72        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_RANDOM_SEED_CREDIT</varname></term>
73        <listitem><para>By default, <filename>systemd-random-seed.service</filename> does not credit any
74        entropy when loading the random seed. With this option this behaviour may be changed: it either takes
75        a boolean parameter or the special string <literal>force</literal>. Defaults to false, in which case
76        no entropy is credited. If true, entropy is credited if the random seed file and system state pass
77        various superficial concisistency checks. If set to <literal>force</literal> entropy is credited,
78        regardless of these checks, as long as the random seed file exists.</para></listitem>
79      </varlistentry>
80    </variablelist>
81  </refsect1>
82
83  <refsect1>
84    <title>See Also</title>
85    <para>
86      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
87      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>random</refentrytitle><manvolnum>4</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
88      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-boot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
89      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>bootctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>4</manvolnum></citerefentry>
90    </para>
91  </refsect1>
92
93</refentry>
94