Reference

System Configuration File
Manifest
Bundle Formats
Slot Status File
System Status File
Command Line Tool
Custom Handlers (Interface)
Hooks (Interface)
D-Bus API
RAUC's Basic Update Procedure
Bootloader Interaction

System Configuration File

A configuration file named system.conf describes the number and type of available slots.

This file is loaded from one of the listed directories in order of priority, only the first file found is used: /etc/rauc/, /run/rauc/, /usr/lib/rauc/.

It is used to validate storage locations for update images. Each board type requires its special configuration.

This file is part of the root file system.

Note

When changing the configuration file on your running target you need to restart the RAUC service in order to let the changes take effect.

Example configuration:

[system]
compatible=FooCorp Super BarBazzer
bootloader=barebox
data-directory=/srv/rauc
bundle-formats=-plain

[keyring]
path=/etc/rauc/keyring.pem

[handlers]
system-info=/usr/lib/rauc/info-provider.sh
post-install=/usr/lib/rauc/postinst.sh

[slot.rootfs.0]
device=/dev/sda0
type=ext4
bootname=system0

[slot.rootfs.1]
device=/dev/sda1
type=ext4
bootname=system1

[artifacts.add-ons]
path=/srv/add-ons
type=trees

`[system]` Section

compatible (required)

A user-defined compatible string that describes the target hardware as specific enough as required to prevent faulty updating systems with the wrong firmware. It will be matched against the compatible string defined in the update manifest.

min-bundle-version (optional)

An optional user-defined version string that follows the semantic versioning scheme. The 'version core' and '-pre_release' parts from the version string in the update manifest are compared against the configured min-bundle-version. The update will be rejected if the bundle manifest version is smaller/older.

This allows to roll out updates with some (breaking) changes by shipping them with a system.conf that sets the min-bundle-version accordingly. Once the updated system runs, it will prevent the installation of future updates with smaller/older bundle manifest versions.

Note that equating the bundle-version with the system-version in this way has the caveat that cases where a rollback (due to a regression for example) would be required, could lead to scenarios where the bundle version would need to be incremented to pass the version-limit, but the rolled back system version would end up at a number below the limit. E.g. 1.2.9 = good; update to 1.3.0 with limit set to 1.3.0; problems!; update-bundle version:=1.3.1 but with content=1.2.9.

Also note that the implementation in RAUC relaxes the strict Major.Minor.Path version-core format imposed by the semantic versioning scheme. To accommodate versioning schemes that use YEAR.MONTH or similar, version-cores with just Major or Major.Minor are also allowed.

bootloader (required)

The bootloader implementation RAUC should use for its slot switching mechanism. Currently supported values (and bootloaders) are barebox, grub, uboot, efi, custom, noop.

bundle-formats (optional, recommended)

This option controls which :ref:`bundle formats<sec_ref_formats>` are allowed when verifying a bundle. You can either specify them explicitly by using a space-separated list for format names (such as plain verity). In this case, any future changes of the built-in defaults will have no effect.

Alternatively, you can use format names prefixed by - or + (such as -plain) to enable or disable formats relative to the default configuration. This way, formats added in newer releases will be active automatically.

mountprefix (optional)

Prefix of the path where bundles and slots will be mounted. Can be overwritten by the command line option --mount. Defaults to /mnt/rauc/.

grubenv (optional)

Only valid when bootloader is set to grub. Specifies the path under which the GRUB environment can be accessed.

barebox-statename (optional)

Only valid when bootloader is set to barebox. Overwrites the default state state to a user-defined state name. If this key not exists, the bootchooser framework searches per default for /state or /aliases/state.

barebox-dtbpath (optional)

Only valid when bootloader is set to barebox. Allows to set a path to a separate devicetree (dtb) file to be used for reading barebox state definition from. This is mainly useful for systems that do not use devicetrees by default, like x86 systems.

Note

Requires to have at least dt-utils version 2021.03.0

boot-attempts (optional)

This configures the number of boot attempts to set when a slot is marked good through the D-Bus API or via the command line tool. The configured value should match the bootloader's reset value for attempts. This is currently only supported when bootloader is set to uboot or barebox and defaults to 3 if not set.

boot-attempts-primary (optional)

This configures the number of boot attempts to set when a slot is marked as primary (i.e., when an update was installed successfully). This is currently only supported when bootloader is set to uboot or barebox and defaults to 3 if not set.

efi-use-bootnext (optional)

Only valid when bootloader is set to efi. If set to false, this disables using efi variable BootNext for marking a slot primary. This is useful for setups where the BIOS already handles the slot switching on watchdog resets. Behavior defaults to true if the option is not set.

activate-installed (optional): This boolean value controls if a freshly installed slot is automatically marked active with respect to the used bootloader. Its default value is true which means that this slot is going to be started the next time the system boots. If the value of this parameter is false the slot has to be activated manually in order to be booted, see section :ref:`mark-active`.

statusfile (deprecated, optional): Note

This option is deprecated. Consider using data-directory instead. For more details about backwards compatibility, see :ref:`data-directory <data-directory>`.

Can be set to point to a central file where slot status information should be stored (e.g. slot-specific metadata, see :ref:`slot-status`).

Important

This file must be located on a non-redundant filesystem which is not overwritten during updates.

data-directory (optional, recommended)

This path configures the directory where RAUC should store its slot status and any other internal information. In most cases, a shared RAUC data directory is preferable, as it allows storing data also for read-only or filesystem-less slots.

We have multiple levels of backwards compatibility:

per-slot status and no shared data directory (by default or explicitly with statusfile=per-slot)
central status file and no shared data directory (statusfile=/data/central.raucs)
central status file and shared data directory (statusfile=/data/central.raucs and data-directory=/data/rauc)
central status file in shared data directory (data-directory=/data/rauc, implies statusfile=/data/rauc/central.raucs)

Important

This directory must be located on a non-redundant filesystem which is not overwritten during updates.

max-bundle-download-size (optional)

Defines the maximum downloadable bundle size in bytes, and thus must be a simple integer value (without unit) greater than zero. It overwrites the compiled-in default value of 8388608 (8 MiB). If RAUC is configured with streaming support, this has no effect, as the bundle is not downloaded as a whole.

max-bundle-signature-size (optional)

Defines the maximum bundle signature size in bytes, and thus must be a simple integer value (without unit) greater than zero. It overwrites the compiled-in default value of 64 KiB. As this limit also applies to the encrypted signature when using crypt bundles, you may need to increase it if you encrypt to a large number of recipients.

variant-name (optional)

String to be used as variant name for this board. If set, neither variant-file nor variant-dtb must be set. Refer chapter :ref:`sec-variants` for more information.

variant-file (optional)

File containing variant name for this board. If set, neither variant-name nor variant-dtb must be set. Refer chapter :ref:`sec-variants` for more information.

variant-dtb (optional)

If set to true, use current device tree compatible as this boards variant name. If set, neither variant-name nor variant-file must be set. Refer chapter :ref:`sec-variants` for more information.

perform-pre-check (optional)

For verity and crypt bundles, this boolean value controls whether the complete bundle is checked for data corruption before it is mounted. Normally, this option is not needed as every access to the bundle payload during installation is already protected by dm-verity. The default value is false which means that this pre-check is not performed.

This option is useful when the installation should be aborted early even if the corrupt part of the bundle is not used during installation (perhaps due to adaptive updates or image variants).

It has no effect for plain bundles, as the signature verification already checks the whole bundle.

prevent-late-fallback=<true/false> (optional)

In some use-cases, fallback to an older version must be prevented after the update is completed successfully ('rauc status mark-good' executed from the new version). If this option is enabled, RAUC will execute the equivalent of 'rauc status mark-bad other' after marking the currently booted slot as good. This means that the other slot(s) is/are no longer eligible for fallback.

`[keyring]` Section

The keyring section refers to the trusted keyring used for signature verification. Both path and directory options can be used together if desired, though only one or the other is necessary to verify the bundle signature.

path (optional): Path to the keyring file in PEM format. Either absolute or relative to the system.conf file.
directory (optional): Path to the keyring directory containing one or more certificates. Each file in this directory must contain exactly one certificate in CRL or PEM format. The filename of each certificate must have the form hash.N for a certificate or hash.rN for CRLs; where hash is obtained by X509_NAME_hash(3) or the --hash option of openssl(1) x509 or crl commands. See documentation in X509_LOOKUP_hash_dir(3) for details.
use-bundle-signing-time=<true/false> (optional): If this boolean value is set to true then the bundle signing time is used instead of the current system time for certificate validation.

allow-partial-chain=<true/false> (optional)

If this boolean value is set to true, RAUC will also treat intermediate certificates in the keyring as trust-anchors, in addition to self-signed root CA certificates. This makes it possible to trust only one (or more) sub-tree(s) in a larger PKI.

Note that without the root CA certificate in the keyring, CRLs signed by it can not be authenticated. If CRL checking is needed, the PKI needs to be structured with this in mind.

check-crl=<true/false> (optional)

If this boolean value is set to true, RAUC will enable checking of CRLs (Certificate Revocation Lists) stored in the keyring together with the CA certificates. Note that CRLs have an expiration time in their signature, so you need to make sure you don't end up with an expired CRL on your device (which would block further updates).

check-purpose (optional): This option can be used to set the OpenSSL certificate purpose used during chain verification. Certificates in the chain with incompatible purposes are rejected. Possible values are provided by OpenSSL (any, sslclient, sslserver, nssslserver, smimesign, smimeencrypt) and RAUC (codesign). See -purpose and VERIFY OPERATION in the OpenSSL verify manual page and the :ref:`sec-key-usage` section for more information.

`[streaming]` Section

The streaming section contains streaming-related settings. For more information about using the streaming support of RAUC, refer to :ref:`http-streaming`.

sandbox-user (optional)

This option can be used to set the user name which is used to run the streaming helper process. By default, the nobody user is used. At compile time, the default can be defined using the -Dstreaming_user=USERNAME meson setup option.

tls-cert (optional)

This option can be used to set the path or PKCS#11 URL for the TLS/HTTPS client certificate.

tls-key (optional)

This option can be used to set the path or PKCS#11 URL for the TLS/HTTPS client private key.

tls-ca (optional)

This option can be used to set the path of the CA certificate which should be used instead of the system wide store of trusted TLS/HTTPS certificates.

send-headers (optional)

This option takes a ;-separated list of information to send as HTTP header fields to the server with the first request.

Supported values are:

boot-id: Enables sending the boot_id as RAUC-Boot-ID header field.
machine-id: Enables sending the machine-id as RAUC-Machine-ID header field.

Note

The machine ID should be considered "confidential" and thus not be used over unauthenticated connections or with untrusted servers!
serial: Enables sending the system serial as RAUC-Serial header field.
variant: Enables sending the variant as RAUC-Variant header field.
transaction-id: Enables sending the transaction UUID as RAUC-Transaction-ID header field.
uptime: Enables sending the system's current uptime as RAUC-Uptime header field.

`[encryption]` Section

The encryption section contains information required to decrypt a 'crypt' bundle. For more information about encrypted RAUC bundle bundles, refer to :ref:`sec-encryption`.

key (required to use encryption): Path or PKCS#11 URL for the private key used to decrypt bundles.
cert (optional): Path or PKCS#11 URL for the certificate matching the encryption key. This is optional but allows to speed up key lookup and thus is especially useful for larger number of recipients.

`[casync]` Section

The casync section contains casync-related settings. For more information about using the casync support of RAUC, refer to :ref:`casync-support`.

install-args (optional): Allows to specify additional arguments that will be passed to casync when installing an update. For example it can be used to include additional seeds or stores.
storepath (optional): Allows to set the path to use as chunk store path for casync to a fixed one. This is useful if your chunk store is on a dedicated server and will be the same pool for each update you perform. By default, the chunk store path is derived from the location of the RAUC bundle you install.
tmppath (optional): Allows to set the path to use as temporary directory for casync. The temporary directory used by casync can be specified using the TMPDIR environment variable. It falls back to /var/tmp if unset. If tmppath is set then RAUC runs casync with TMPDIR sets to that path. By default, the temporary directory is left unset by RAUC and casync uses its internal default value /var/tmp.
use-desync=<true/false> (optional): If this boolean value is set to true, RAUC will use desync instead of casync. Desync support is still experimental, use with caution.

`[autoinstall]` Section

The auto-install feature allows to configure a path that will be checked upon RAUC service startup. If there is a bundle placed under this specific path, this bundle will be installed automatically without any further interaction.

This feature is useful for automatically updating the slot RAUC currently runs from, like for asymmetric redundancy setups where the update is always performed from a dedicated (recovery) slot.

path (optional): The full path of the bundle file to check for. If file at path exists, auto-install will be triggered.

`[handlers]` Section

Handlers allow to customize RAUC by placing scripts in the system that RAUC can call for different purposes. All parameters expect pathnames to the script to be executed. Pathnames are either absolute or relative to the system.conf file location.

RAUC passes a set of environment variables to handler scripts. See details about using handlers in Custom Handlers (Interface).

system-info (optional)

This handler will be called when RAUC starts up, right after loading the system configuration file. It is used for obtaining further information about the individual system RAUC runs on. The handler script must print the information to standard output in form of key value pairs. A valid generic key must start with RAUC_ as prefix to be added to the system information; e.g. RAUC_KEY=value.

Some additional special keys that are supported, are:

`RAUC_SYSTEM_SERIAL`:	Serial number of the individual board
`RAUC_SYSTEM_VARIANT`:	Sets the RAUC system variant
`RAUC_SYSTEM_VERSION`:	Sets the system version (depending on your versioning strategy, this could match the version of a previously installed bundle or be completely independent)

System information is made available to other handlers via environment variables that have the exact same name and value.

The system-info handler also allows to define custom information that is forwarded to the server upon RAUC's first streaming request. In order to define forwarded info, this must be returned as a key prefixed. with RAUC_HTTP_. The generated header field will be name of the key (with out the prefix) where an RAUC- is prepended and all underscores are converted to hyphens. E.g. RAUC_HTTP_MY_CUSTOM_INFO=dummyvalue will emit a header RAUC-MY-CUSTOM-INFO: dummyvalue.

pre-install (optional)

This handler will be called right before RAUC starts with the installation. This is after RAUC has verified and mounted the bundle, thus you can access bundle content.

post-install (optional)

This handler will be called after a successful installation. The bundle is still mounted at this moment, thus you could access data in it if required.

bootloader-custom-backend (required for bootloader=custom)

This handler will be called to trigger the following actions:

get the primary slot
set the primary slot
get the boot state
set the boot state

if a custom bootloader backend is used. See :ref:`sec-custom-bootloader-backend` for more details.

`[slot.<slot-class>.<idx>]` Sections

Each slot is identified by a section starting with slot. followed by the slot class name, and a slot number. The <slot-class> name is used in the update manifest to target the correct set of slots. It must not contain any . (dots) as these are used as hierarchical separator.

device=</path/to/dev> (required): The slot's device path.
type=<type> (optional, recommended): The type describing the slot. Currently supported <type> values are raw, nand, nor, ubivol, ubifs, ext4, vfat. See table :ref:`sec-slot-type` for a more detailed list of these different types. Defaults to raw if none given.
extra-mkfs-opts=<options> (optional): Allows to specify custom filesystem creation options that will be passed to the slot's mkfs.<type> call (ext4, vfat, and ubifs only).
bootname=<name> (optional): Registers the slot for being handled by the :ref:`bootselection interface <bootloader-interaction>` with the <name> specified. The value must be unique across all slots. Only slots without a parent entry can have a bootname. The actual meaning of the name provided depends on the bootloader implementation used.
parent=<slot> (optional): The parent entry is used to bind additional slots to a bootable root file system <slot>. Indirect parent references are discouraged, but supported for now. This is used together with the bootname to identify the set of currently active slots, so that the inactive one can be selected as the update target. The parent slot is referenced using the form <slot-class>.<idx>.
allow-mounted=<true/false> (optional): Setting this entry true tells RAUC that the slot may be updated even if it is already mounted. Such a slot can be updated only by a custom install hook.
readonly=<true/false> (optional): Marks the slot as existing but not updatable. May be used for sanity checking or informative purpose. A readonly slot cannot be a target slot.

install-same=<true/false> (optional)

If set to false, this will tell RAUC to skip writing slots that already have the same content as the one that should be installed. Having the 'same' content means that the hash value stored for the target slot and the hash value of the update image are equal. The default value is true here, meaning that no optimization will be done as this can be unexpected if RAUC is not the only one that potentially alters a slot's content.

This replaces the deprecated entries ignore-checksum and force-install-same.

resize=<true/false> (optional)

If set to true this will tell RAUC to resize the filesystem after having written the image to this slot. This only has an effect when writing an ext4 file system to an ext4 slot, i.e. if the slot has``type=ext4`` set.

extra-mount-opts=<options> (optional)

Allows to specify custom mount options that will be passed to the slot's mount call as -o argument value.

`[artifacts.<repo-name>]` Sections

Each :ref:`artifact repository <sec-basic-artifact-repositories>` is identified by a section starting with artifacts. followed by the repository name. The <repo-name> name is used in the update manifest to target the correct repository. It must not contain any . (dots) as these are used as hierarchical separator. The name must be different from any slot class names.

path=</repo/path> (required)

Full path to a directory (on a shared partition) to be used to store the artifacts. The underlying shared partition must be mounted before starting RAUC.

type=<type> (required)

The type of this repository. Currently supported values are files and trees.

files: each artifact is a single file
trees: each artifact is a directory tree containing files
composefs: each artifact is a directory containing a composefs metadata image

See :ref:`sec-repository-types` for more details.

description=<string> (optional)

A description of this repository.

parent-class=<slot-class> (optional)

Reference to a slot class, if the set of installed artifacts should be managed separately for each instance of that class, instead of globally. If so, it should refer to the class of the rootfs slots.

Warning

Support for parent classes is not fully implemented yet. Do not use.

`[log.<logger>]` Sections

With a logger section, a RAUC event logger can be configured. The <logger> suffix determines the internal name of the logger and must be unique per system.conf.

For an overview over the event logging framework in RAUC and its purpose, have a look at :ref:`sec-advanced-event-log`.

filename (required)

The log file name used for logging. If no absolute path is given, the location is assumed to be relative to the data-directory. Using a relative file name without data-directory set will cause a configuration error.

events (optional)

Semicolon-separated list of events to log. Currently supported event types are:

install - Logs start and end of installation
boot - Logs boot information
mark - Logs slot marking information
all - Log all events (default, cannot be combined with other events)

format (optional)

The output format used for the logger. Supported values are

readable: readable multi-line output (default)
short: Single-line readable output
json: single-line JSON output
json-pretty: formatted JSON output

max-size (optional)

Allows to configure a basic log rotation. When given, the logger's log file will be rotated before reaching the size configured with max-size and renamed to <filename>.1. Existing rotation file names will be incremented by one. The oldest file is removed. To configure a maximum number of files to keep, see max-files. Values support common suffixes like K, M, G, to T.

max-files (optional)

Configures the maximum number of files to keep per logger. E.g. if set to 3, only <filename>, <filename>.1 and <filename>.2 will be kept during rotation. Defaults to 10 if unset.

Manifest

The manifest file located in a RAUC bundle describes the images packed in the bundle and their corresponding target slot class.

A valid RAUC manifest file must be named manifest.raucm.

[update]
compatible=FooCorp Super BarBazzer
version=2016.08-1

[bundle]
format=verity
verity-hash=3fcb193cb4fd475aa174efa1f1e979b2d649bf7f8224cc97f4413b5ee141a4e9
verity-salt=4b7b8657d03759d387f24fb7bb46891771e1b370fff38c70488e6381d6a10e49
verity-size=24576

[image.rootfs]
filename=rootfs.ext4
size=419430400
sha256=b14c1457dc10469418b4154fef29a90e1ffb4dddd308bf0f2456d436963ef5b3

[image.appfs]
filename=appfs.ext4
size=219430400
sha256=ecf4c031d01cb9bfa9aa5ecfce93efcf9149544bdbf91178d2c2d9d1d24076ca

[image.add-ons/webserver]
filename=webserver.tar
size=6573863
sha256=f23204174c70ff03a9efcd6c2dfd6d2b8ebdd8bb66936043341e728438a1f0ea

`[update]` Section

This section contains some high-level information about the bundle.

compatible (required): A user-defined compatible string that must match the RAUC compatible string of the system the bundle should be installed on.
version (optional): A free version field that can be used to provide and track version information. No checks will be performed on this version by RAUC itself, although a handler can use this information to reject updates.
description (optional): A free-form description field that can be used to provide human-readable bundle information.
build (optional): A build id that would typically hold the build date or some build information provided by the bundle creation environment. This can help to determine the date and origin of the built bundle.

`[bundle]` Section

The bundle section contains information required to process the bundle.

format (optional, recommended): Either plain (default), verity or crypt. This selects the :ref:`format<sec_ref_formats>` used when wrapping the payload during bundle creation.

verity-hash (generated): The dm-verity root hash over the bundle payload in hexadecimal. RAUC determines this value automatically, so it should be left unspecified when preparing a manifest for bundle creation.
verity-salt (generated): The dm-verity salt over the bundle payload in hexadecimal. RAUC determines this value automatically, so it should be left unspecified when preparing a manifest for bundle creation.
verity-size (generated): The size of the dm-verity hash tree. RAUC determines this value automatically, so it should be left unspecified when preparing a manifest for bundle creation.
crypt-key (generated): The encryption key of the dm-crypt. RAUC generates the key automatically when creating a crypt bundle.

`[hooks]` Section

The hooks section allows to provide a user-defined executable for :ref:`executing hooks <sec-hooks>` during the installation.

filename (optional)

Hook script path name, relative to the bundle content.

hooks (optional)

List of hooks enabled for this bundle. See :ref:`sec-install-hooks` for more details.

Valid items are: install-check

`[handler]` Section

The handler section refers to the full custom handler that allows to fully replace the default RAUC update process.

Note

This is not to be confused with the [handlers] section from the system.conf which defines e.g. pre- and post-install handlers!

When the full custom handler is enabled in a bundle, it will be invoked during the bundle installation

after bundle signature verification
after slot state and target slots determination logic
after the pre-install system handler
before the post-install system handler

Also, the bundle will be mounted at this point and thus all its content is available to the full custom handler. Further system information is passed by RAUC via environment variables. No built-in slot update will run and no hook will be executed.

filename (optional)

Full custom handler path, relative to the bundle content. Having this set will activate the full custom handler and use the given script/binary instead of the default handling.

args (optional)

Arguments to pass to the full custom handler, such as args=--setup --verbose

Note

Until RAUC v1.9, these arguments were also implicitly passed to handlers defined in the system.conf. This behavior was fixed/removed in v1.10. If someone uses this undocumented behavior and still requires this, please file an issue.

If additional arguments are provided via --handler-args command line argument, these will be appended to the ones defined in the manifest.

`[image.*]` Sections

The image section names can take different forms to support slots, artifacts and variants.

[image.<slot-class>]: This form is used to specify images that should be installed to (inactive) slots of the given class.
[image.<slot-class>.<variant>]: This form is used to specify an image that will be used instead of the default one above if the target system's variant matches <variant>. Refer to chapter :ref:`sec-variants` for more information.
[image.<artifact-repo-name>/<artifact-name>]: This form is used to specify an image that should be installed into an artifact repository.
[image.<artifact-repo-name>/<artifact-name>.<variant>]: This form is not yet supported, but will be used to handle artifacts with variants.

The following fields are supported for image sections:

filename (required)

Name of the image file (relative to bundle content).

Important

RAUC uses the file name extension and the slot type to decide how to extract the image file content to the slot. Make sure to only use :ref:`supported file name extensions <sec-ref-supported-image-types>`!

sha256 (generated)

sha256 of image file. RAUC determines this value automatically when creating a bundle, thus it is not required to set this by hand.

size (generated)

size of image file. RAUC determines this value automatically when creating a bundle, thus it is not required to set this by hand.

hooks (optional)

List of per-slot hooks enabled for this image. See :ref:`sec-slot-hooks` for more details.

Valid items are: pre-install, install, post-install

Hooks are not yet supported for artifacts.

adaptive (optional)

List of ;-separated per-slot adaptive update method names. These methods will add extra information to the bundle, allowing RAUC to access only the parts of an image which are not yet available locally. Together with streaming, this reduces the amount of downloaded data.

As the full image is still available in the bundle, older RAUC versions can ignore unsupported adaptive methods.

Currently implemented adaptive methods:

block-hash-index

Build an index which stores the SHA256 hash for each 4kiB block of the input image, allowing reuse of unchanged blocks.

For information on this method, see :ref:`sec-adaptive-block-hash-index`.

Adaptive update methods are currently not supported for artifacts.

convert (optional)

List of ;-separated conversion methods to use during bundle creation. The original image is not included in the bundle, except when keep is specified.

Currently implemented conversion methods:

tar-extract: Extract a tar into a directory tree. This method is not very useful on its own, but can be used to test creation and installation of bundles containing many files. The underlying implementation will also be used for future methods.
composefs: Create a composefs metadata image and object store from a tar archive. File contents from all composefs artifacts are placed in a shared object store in the bundle (<bundle>/.rauc-cfs-store). This way, duplicated files are stored in the bundle only once. During bundle creation, fakeroot needs to be available when not running under pseudo.
keep: Keep the original image after running the conversion methods.

Conversion methods are currently not supported for slot images.

converted (generated)

List of ;-separated output file/directory names from conversion methods, as generated by RAUC during bundle creation. Each element in the convert list has a corresponding entry in this list.

`[meta.<label>]` Sections

The meta.<label> sections are intended to provide a forwards-compatible way to add metadata to the manifest which is not interpreted by RAUC in any way. They are accessible via rauc info, the :ref:`"InspectBundle" D-Bus API <gdbus-method-de-pengutronix-rauc-Installer.InspectBundle>`, pre-/post-install :ref:`handlers <sec-handler-interface>` and the install-check hook. In future releases, they will be accessible in other hooks, as well.

<key> (optional)

Keys (and values) can be defined freely in this section.

As they may need to be converted to environment variable names, only alphanumeric characters, - and _ are allowed in <label> and <key>. - is converted to _ for use as an environment variable name.

Supported Image Types (Extensions)

RAUC uses the file name extension of images in combination with the target slot's type to select the update handler. To keep the number of combinations manageable, only a limited amount of file name extensions is supported by RAUC.

The *.img extension is valid for all slot types. It should be used when no specific file name extension (and handler) is supported.

Supported file system image types/extensions are:

*.ext4: ext[234] file system image

*.vfat: vfat/EFI file system image

*.ubifs: UBIFS file system image

*.squashfs: SquashFS image (compressed or uncompressed)

*.squashfs-<comp>: SquashFS image (compressed, with <comp> being one of lz4, lzo, xz, xst)

Supported TAR archive types/extensions are:

*.tar*: Compressed or uncompressed TAR archive

For casync support, some specific file name extensions are supported (and used for casync-mode detection):

.caidx: casync directory tree index

<extension>.caibx: casync blob index (where <extension> is a valid 'standard' extension)

.catar: casync directory tree archive

Bundle Formats

RAUC currently supports three bundle formats (plain, verity and crypt) and additional formats could be added if required. When starting a new project, the verity or crypt formats should be used.

Version 1.4 (released on 2020-06-20) and earlier only supported a single format now named plain, which should only be used as long as compatibility with older versions is required. For information on how to migrate to the recommended verity format, see :ref:`sec_int_migration`).

The verity format was added to support new use cases like network streaming, for better parallelization of installation with hash verification and to detect modification of the bundle during installation.

The crypt format is an extension to the verity format that allows full encryption of the bundle.

The bundle format is detected when reading a bundle and checked against the set of allowed formats configured in the system.conf (using the :ref:`bundle-formats <bundle-formats>` option).

Note

When creating a bundle without an explicitly configured format, RAUC will warn about defaulting to plain and recommend to use verity instead. The warning can be silenced by explicitly configuring plain, but note that this will produce bundles incompatible to 1.4 and earlier due to the added [bundle] section. In that case, we strongly recommend updating these systems.

plain Format

In this case, a bundle consists of:

squashfs filesystem containing manifest and images
detached CMS signature over the squashfs filesystem
size of the CMS signature

With this format, the signature is checked in a full pass over the squashfs before mounting or accessing it. This makes it necessary to protect the bundle against modification by untrusted processes. To ensure exclusive access, RAUC takes ownership of the file (using chown) and uses file leases to detect other open file descriptors.

verity Format

In this case, a bundle consists of:

squashfs filesystem containing manifest (without verity metadata) and images
dm-verity hash tree over the squashfs filesystem
CMS signature over an inline manifest (with verity metadata)
size of the CMS signature

With this format, the manifest is contained in the CMS signature itself, making it accessible without first hashing the full squashfs. The manifest contains the additional metadata (:ref:`root hash, salt and size <verity-metadata>`) necessary to authenticate the hash tree and in turn each block of the squashfs filesystem.

During installation, the kernel's verity device mapper target is used on top of the loopback block device to authenticate each filesystem block as needed.

When using rauc extract (or other commands which need access to the squashfs except install), the squashfs is checked before accessing it by RAUC itself without using the kernel's device mapper target, as they are often used by normal users on their development hosts. It this case, the same mechanism for ensuring exclusive access as with plain bundles is used.

crypt Format

In this case, a bundle consists of:

SquashFS filesystem containing manifest (without verity metadata or crypt key) and images, encrypted using dm-crypt mode aes-cbc-plain64
dm-verity hash tree over the encrypted SquashFS filesystem
CMS signature over an inline manifest (with verity metadata and crypt key), encrypted to a set of recipients
size of the encrypted CMS structure

In addition to the metadata used by the verity format, the manifest for this format contains the AES-256 key required for decryption of the SquashFS payload. To protect the payload key, the signed manifest is then encrypted.

During installation, the kernel's crypt and verity device mapper targets are used on top of the loopback or network block device to authenticate and then decrypt each payload block as needed.

External Signing and PKI

Some industrialization procedures require signing updates in a dedicated secure room with restricted access. Only there, access to the Public Key Infrastructure (aka PKI), is allowed.

For this case rauc extract-signature can extract the bundle signature and rauc replace-signature can replace the bundle signature with a new one.

As a verity format bundle signature is not a detached CMS, you can easily resign it externally.

# Extract the bundle signature
$ rauc extract-signature --keyring ca.cert.pem bundle.raucb extracted-signature.cms
# Extract embedded manifest from the verity bundle CMS
$ openssl cms -verify -CAfile ca.cert.pem -out manifest.raucm -inform DER -in extracted-signature.cms
# Or without trust chain verification
$ openssl cms -verify -noverify -out manifest.raucm -inform DER -in extracted-signature.cms
# Sign the manifest with your external PKI (for this example, it was made by an `openssl` command)
$ openssl cms -sign -signer new-signer.cert.pem -CAfile new-ca-cert.pem -inkey new-signer.key.pem -nodetach -in manifest.raucm -outform der -out new-signature.cms
# Finally replace the bundle signature
$ rauc replace-signature --keyring ca-cert.pem --signing-keyring new-ca-cert.pem bundle.raucb new-signature.cms new-bundle.raucb

For the plain format bundle signature it's slightly different, as the signature is detached, it contains just the message digest. You can use openssl asn1parse for retrieving the message digest in the CMS.

# Find the line which contains `:messageDigest` in `OBJECT` section
# and get offset of the next line which contains `OCTET STRING` (1125 in this case)
$ openssl asn1parse -inform der -in extracted-signature.cms | grep -C 3 messageDigest
1093:d=7  hl=2 l=  15 cons: SET
1095:d=8  hl=2 l=  13 prim: UTCTIME           :170926142121Z
1110:d=6  hl=2 l=  47 cons: SEQUENCE
1112:d=7  hl=2 l=   9 prim: OBJECT            :messageDigest
1123:d=7  hl=2 l=  34 cons: SET
1125:d=8  hl=2 l=  32 prim: OCTET STRING      [HEX DUMP]:F3C783DF3F76D658798A7232255A155BB4E5DD90B0DDFFA57EE01968055161C5
1159:d=6  hl=2 l= 121 cons: SEQUENCE
# And extract the digest
$ openssl asn1parse -strparse 1125 -inform DER -in extracted-signature.cms -noout -out - | xxd -ps -c 32
f3c783df3f76d658798a7232255a155bb4e5dd90b0ddffa57ee01968055161c5

Unfortunately the OpenSSL command line tool does not support signing a pre-existing digest, so you may need to use the PR openssl/openssl#15348. This is not necessary for a verity bundle format, as its CMS signature directly contains the manifest.

Another method could be to extract the original binary from the RAUC bundle.

$ BUNDLE_SIZE="$(stat -L -c%s bundle.raucb)"
$ CMS_SIZE="$(printf "%u" "0x$(tail -c "+$((( ${BUNDLE_SIZE} - 7 )))" bundle.raucb | xxd -ps)")"
$ CMS_OFFSET=$((( ${BUNDLE_SIZE} - ${CMS_SIZE} - 7 )))
# Extract binary to sign from the bundle
$ dd if=bundle.raucb of=bundle.rauci bs=1 count=$((( ${CMS_OFFSET} - 1 )))
$ sha256sum bundle.rauci
f3c783df3f76d658798a7232255a155bb4e5dd90b0ddffa57ee01968055161c5  bundle.rauci
# Sign the binary with your PKI (for this example, it was made by an `openssl` command)
$ openssl cms -sign -signer new-signer.cert.pem -CAfile new-ca-cert.pem -inkey new-signer.key.pem -binary -in bundle.rauci -outform der -out new-signature.cms
# Finally replace the bundle signature
$ rauc replace-signature --keyring ca-cert.pem --signing-keyring new-ca-cert.pem bundle.raucb new-signature.cms new-bundle.raucb

Note

The asn1parse method can also be used for the verity bundle but replacing :messageDigest by :pkcs7-data as follows

# Find the line which contains `:pkcs7-data` in `OBJECT` section
# and get offset of the next line which contains `OCTET STRING` (60 in this case)
$ openssl asn1parse -inform der -in extracted-signature.cms
0:d=0  hl=4 l=1918 cons: SEQUENCE
4:d=1  hl=2 l=   9 prim: OBJECT            :pkcs7-signedData
15:d=1  hl=4 l=1903 cons: cont [ 0 ]
19:d=2  hl=4 l=1899 cons: SEQUENCE
23:d=3  hl=2 l=   1 prim: INTEGER           :01
26:d=3  hl=2 l=  13 cons: SET
28:d=4  hl=2 l=  11 cons: SEQUENCE
30:d=5  hl=2 l=   9 prim: OBJECT            :sha256
41:d=3  hl=4 l= 498 cons: SEQUENCE
45:d=4  hl=2 l=   9 prim: OBJECT            :pkcs7-data
56:d=4  hl=4 l= 483 cons: cont [ 0 ]
60:d=5  hl=4 l= 479 prim: OCTET STRING      :[update]
compatible=Test Config
version=2011.03-2

[bundle]
format=verity
verity-hash=931b44c2989432c0fcfcd215ec94384576b973d70530fdc75b6c4c67b0a60297
verity-salt=ea12cb34c699ebbad0ebee8f6aca0049ee991f289011345d9cdb473ba4fdd285
verity-size=4096

[image.rootfs]
sha256=101a4fc5c369a5c89a51a61bcbacedc9016e9510e59a4383f739ef55521f678d
size=8192
filename=rootfs.img

[image.appfs]
sha256=f95c0891937265df18ff962869b78e32148e7e97eab53fad7341536a24242450
size=8192
filename=appfs.img

543:d=3  hl=4 l= 900 cons: cont [ 0 ]
547:d=4  hl=4 l= 896 cons: SEQUENCE
551:d=5  hl=4 l= 616 cons: SEQUENCE
555:d=6  hl=2 l=   3 cons: cont [ 0 ]
557:d=7  hl=2 l=   1 prim: INTEGER           :02
560:d=6  hl=2 l=   1 prim: INTEGER           :01
563:d=6  hl=2 l=  13 cons: SEQUENCE
565:d=7  hl=2 l=   9 prim: OBJECT            :sha256WithRSAEncryption
[...]
# And extract the manifest
$ openssl asn1parse -strparse 60 -inform DER -in extracted-signature.cms -noout -out -
[update]
compatible=Test Config
version=2011.03-2

[bundle]
format=verity
verity-hash=931b44c2989432c0fcfcd215ec94384576b973d70530fdc75b6c4c67b0a60297
verity-salt=ea12cb34c699ebbad0ebee8f6aca0049ee991f289011345d9cdb473ba4fdd285
verity-size=4096

[image.rootfs]
sha256=101a4fc5c369a5c89a51a61bcbacedc9016e9510e59a4383f739ef55521f678d
size=8192
filename=rootfs.img

[image.appfs]
sha256=f95c0891937265df18ff962869b78e32148e7e97eab53fad7341536a24242450
size=8192
filename=appfs.img

Slot Status File

For each slot, RAUC tracks some status data like the state of the slot, the origin of its content and a minimal installation history. RAUC provides this information via the :ref:`GetSlotStatus <gdbus-method-de-pengutronix-rauc-Installer.GetSlotStatus>` D-Bus method or prints it when rauc status is called with the --detailed options.

The recommended way to store slot data is on a shared partition within RAUC's :ref:`data-directory <data-directory>`. When the data directory is enabled, the file <data-directory>/central.raucs is used to store information for all slots. The same file is also used for storing :ref:`system status <system-status>` information. If no shared partition is available, RAUC can store the status file as /slot.raucs on each slot that contains a writable filesystem. Slots without a writable filesystem will not have any status data stored in this case.

Like the configuration files used by RAUC, the slot status files use a key-value syntax, similar to that found in .ini files.

The information for each slot is grouped in a section like [slot.rootfs.1] for the central status file, or [slot] in case of a per-slot file.

[slot.rootfs.0]
bundle.compatible=FooCorp Super BarBazzer
bundle.version=2024.08-1
bundle.description=Introduction of Galactic Feature XYZ
bundle.build=2024.08.1/imx8mp/20240824-7
status=ok
sha256=b14c1457dc10469418b4154fef29a90e1ffb4dddd308bf0f2456d436963ef5b3
size=419430400
installed.transaction=dad3289a-7de1-4ad2-931e-fb827edc6496
installed.timestamp=2024-09-06T09:51:13Z
installed.count=3

The properties bundle.compatible, bundle.version, bundle.description and bundle.build are copies of the respective manifest properties. More information can be found in this :ref:`subsection <sec-manifest-update>` of section :ref:`Manifest <sec_ref_manifest>`.

The status field records the status of each slot. It can have the following values:

ok:	The latest update for this slot succeeded. Its content should be valid.
failed:	The latest update for this slot failed. There is no valid content on it.
pending:	The slot is currently being updated. There is no valid content on it, yet.

For a description of sha256 and size keys see :ref:`this <image-section>` part of the section :ref:`Manifest <sec_ref_manifest>`. Having the slot's content's size allows to re-calculate the hash via head -c <size> <slot-device> | sha256sum or dd bs=<size> count=1 if=<slot-device> | sha256sum.

RAUC also stores information about the installation run during which the slot was updated: In installed.transaction the installation transaction ID is noted, while installed.timestamp notes the time when the slot's installation was finished and installed.count reflects the number of updates the slot received so far. Additionally RAUC tracks the point in time when a bootable slot is activated in activated.timestamp and the number of activations in activated.count, see section :ref:`mark-active`. Comparing both timestamps is useful to decide if an installed slot has ever been activated or if its activation is still pending.

System Status File

The system status is only available if a central status file is configured for RAUC (by setting :ref:`data-directory <data-directory>`). The system status is stored in the same file as the :ref:`slot status <slot-status>`. It uses a distinct [system] section.

[system]
boot-id=d359b438-b28b-416b-9270-257484a8a58e

The field boot-id contains the system's boot ID (proc/sys/kernel/random/boot_id) recorded on service startup. RAUC uses this ID to differentiate between reboots and service restarts by comparing it with the current boot ID.

Command Line Tool

Usage:
  rauc [OPTION?] <COMMAND>

Options:
  -c, --conf=FILENAME                 config file
  -C, --confopt=SECTION:KEY=VALUE     config settings that override parameters from the config file
  --keyring=PEMFILE                   keyring file
  --mount=PATH                        mount prefix
  -d, --debug                         enable debug output
  --version                           display version
  -h, --help                          display help and exit

Command-specific help:
  rauc <COMMAND> --help

List of rauc commands:
  bundle                Create a bundle
  resign                Resign an already signed bundle
  convert               Convert classic to casync bundle
  encrypt               Encrypt a crypt bundle
  replace-signature     Replaces the signature of an already signed bundle
  extract-signature     Extract the bundle signature
  extract               Extract the bundle content
  install               Install a bundle
  info                  Show bundle information
  mount                 Mount a bundle
  service               Start RAUC service
  status                Show status
  write-slot            Write image to slot and bypass all update logic

Environment variables:
  RAUC_KEY_PASSPHRASE Passphrase to use for accessing key files (signing only)
  RAUC_PKCS11_MODULE  Library filename for PKCS#11 module (signing only)
  RAUC_PKCS11_PIN     PIN to use for accessing PKCS#11 keys (signing only)

Note

Using -C / --confopt can not only override settings of the config file but also set new values that haven't been present before.

Custom Handlers (Interface)

Interaction between RAUC and custom handler shell scripts is done using shell variables.

RAUC_SYSTEM_CONFIG: Path to the chosen system configuration file (e.g. /usr/lib/rauc/system.conf if not overridden by a file in /etc or /run)
RAUC_SYSTEM_VARIANT: The system's variant as obtained by the variant source (refer :ref:`sec-variants`)
RAUC_CURRENT_BOOTNAME: Bootname of the slot the system is currently booted from
RAUC_BUNDLE_MOUNT_POINT: Path to mounted update bundle, e.g. /mnt/rauc/bundle
RAUC_UPDATE_SOURCE: A deprecated alias for RAUC_BUNDLE_MOUNT_POINT
RAUC_TRANSACTION_ID: A UUID of a particular installation. This is either generated by RAUC or provided explicitly on command line or over the D-Bus :ref:`InstallBundle <gdbus-method-de-pengutronix-rauc-Installer.InstallBundle>` method.
RAUC_MOUNT_PREFIX: Provides the path prefix that may be used for RAUC mount points
RAUC_META_*: Exposes the :ref:`meta-data sections <meta.label-section>` from the bundle's manifest. This uses the same format as rauc info --output-format=shell ….
RAUC_SLOTS: An iterator list to loop over all existing slots. Each item in the list is an integer referencing one of the slots. To get the slot parameters, you have to resolve the per-slot variables (suffixed with <N> placeholder for the respective slot number).
RAUC_TARGET_SLOTS: An iterator list similar to RAUC_SLOTS but only containing slots that were selected as target slots by the RAUC target slot selection algorithm. You may use this list for safely installing images into these slots.
RAUC_SLOT_NAME_<N>: The name of slot number <N>, e.g. rootfs.0
RAUC_SLOT_CLASS_<N>: The class of slot number <N>, e.g. rootfs
RAUC_SLOT_TYPE_<N>: The type of slot number <N>, e.g. raw
RAUC_SLOT_DEVICE_<N>: The device path of slot number <N>, e.g. /dev/sda1
RAUC_SLOT_BOOTNAME_<N>: The bootloader name of slot number <N>, e.g. system0
RAUC_SLOT_PARENT_<N>: The name of slot number <N>, empty if none, otherwise name of parent slot

for i in $RAUC_TARGET_SLOTS; do
        eval RAUC_SLOT_DEVICE=\$RAUC_SLOT_DEVICE_${i}
        eval RAUC_IMAGE_NAME=\$RAUC_IMAGE_NAME_${i}
        eval RAUC_IMAGE_DIGEST=\$RAUC_IMAGE_DIGEST_${i}
done

Hooks (Interface)

Install Hooks Interface

The following environment variables will be passed to the hook executable:

RAUC_SYSTEM_COMPATIBLE: The compatible value set in the system configuration file, e.g. "My First Product"
RAUC_SYSTEM_VARIANT: The system's variant as obtained by the variant source (refer :ref:`sec-variants`)
RAUC_MF_COMPATIBLE: The compatible value provided by the current bundle, e.g. "My Other Product"
RAUC_MF_VERSION: The value of the version field as provided by the current bundle, e.g. "V1.2.1-2020-02-28"
RAUC_MF_BUILD: The value of the build field as provided by the current bundle, e.g. "20240205092747"
RAUC_MOUNT_PREFIX: The global RAUC mount prefix path, e.g. "/run/mount/rauc"

Slot Hooks Interface

The following environment variables will be passed to the hook executable:

RAUC_SYSTEM_COMPATIBLE

The compatible value set in the system configuration file, e.g. "My Special Product"

RAUC_SYSTEM_VARIANT

The system's variant as obtained by the variant source (refer :ref:`sec-variants`)

RAUC_SLOT_NAME

The name of the currently installed slot, e.g "rootfs.1".

RAUC_SLOT_STATE

The state of the currently installed slot (will always be inactive for slots we install to)

RAUC_SLOT_CLASS

The class of the currently installed slot, e.g. "rootfs"

RAUC_SLOT_TYPE

The type of the currently installed slot, e.g. "ext4"

RAUC_SLOT_DEVICE

The device path of the currently installed slot, e.g. "/dev/mmcblk0p2"

This equals the device= parameter set in the current slot's system.conf entry and represents the target device RAUC installs the update to. For an install hook, this is the device the hook executable should write to.

RAUC_SLOT_BOOTNAME

For slots with a bootname (those that can be selected by the bootloader), the bootname of the currently installed slot, e.g. "system1" For slots with a parent, the parent's bootname is used. Note that in many cases, it's better to use the explicit RAUC_SLOT_NAME to select different behaviour in the hook, than to rely indirectly on the bootname.

RAUC_SLOT_PARENT

If set, the parent of the currently installed slot, e.g. "rootfs.1"

RAUC_SLOT_MOUNT_POINT

If available, the mount point of the currently installed slot, e.g. "/run/mount/rauc/rootfs.1"

For mountable slots, i.e. those with a file system type, RAUC will attempt to automatically mount the slot if a pre-install or post-install hook is given and provide the slot's current mount point under this env variable.

RAUC_IMAGE_NAME

If set, the file name of the image currently to be installed, e.g. "product-rootfs.img"

RAUC_IMAGE_SIZE

If set, the size of the image currently to be installed, e.g. "82628"

RAUC_IMAGE_DIGEST

If set, the digest of the image currently to be installed, e.g. "e29364a81c542755fd5b2c2461cd12b0610b67ceacabce41c102bba4202f2b43"

RAUC_IMAGE_CLASS

If set, the target class of the image currently to be installed, e.g. "rootfs"

RAUC_MOUNT_PREFIX

The global RAUC mount prefix path, e.g. "/run/mount/rauc"

RAUC_BOOT_PARTITION_ACTIVATING

The to be activated boot partition (0 or 1). boot-mbr-switch, boot-gpt-switch, boot-emmc slot types only.

RAUC_BOOT_PARTITION_START

The absolute partition offset of the to be activated boot partition in bytes. boot-mbr-switch and boot-gpt-switch slot types only.

RAUC_BOOT_PARTITION_SIZE

The partition size of the to be activated boot partition in bytes. boot-mbr-switch and boot-gpt-switch slot types only.

RAUC_BOOT_REGION_START

The absolute offset of the boot region in bytes. boot-raw-fallback slot type only.

RAUC_BOOT_REGION_SIZE

The size of the boot region in bytes. Both halves in the region will be written by RAUC. boot-raw-fallback slot type only.

D-Bus API

RAUC provides a D-Bus API that allows other applications to easily communicate with RAUC for installing new firmware.

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer

Description

Method Details

The InstallBundle() Method

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer.InstallBundle()
InstallBundle (IN  s source, IN a{sv} args);

Triggers the installation of a bundle. This method call is non-blocking. After completion, the :ref:`"Completed" <gdbus-signal-de-pengutronix-rauc-Installer.Completed>` signal will be emitted.

IN s source:

Path or URL to the bundle that should be installed

IN a{sv} args:

Arguments to pass to installation

Currently supported:

STRING 'ignore-compatible', VARIANT 'b' <true/false>:
	Ignore the default compatible check for forcing installation of bundles on platforms that a compatible not matching the one of the bundle to be installed
STRING 'ignore-version-limit', VARIANT 'b' <true/false>:
	Disables the check for the minimum bundle version as configured by system.conf option `min-bundle-version` checks.
STRING 'transaction-id', VARIANT 's' <UUID>:	Set UUID to use for identifying the (installation) transaction. If not given, RAUC will generate a random one.
STRING 'tls-cert', VARIANT 's' <filename/pkcs11-url>:
	Use the provided certificate for TLS client authentication
STRING 'tls-key', VARIANT 's' <filename/pkcs11-url>:
	Use the provided private key for TLS client authentication
STRING 'tls-ca', VARIANT 's' <filename/pkcs11-url>:	Use the provided certificate to authenticate the server (instead of the system wide store)
STRING 'http-headers', VARIANT 'as' <array of strings>:
	Add the provided headers to every request (i.e. for bearer tokens)
STRING 'tls-no-verify', VARIANT 'b' <true/false>:	Ignore verification errors for the server certificate

The Install() Method

Note

This method is deprecated.

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer.Install()
Install (IN  s source);

Triggers the installation of a bundle. This method call is non-blocking. After completion, the :ref:`"Completed" <gdbus-signal-de-pengutronix-rauc-Installer.Completed>` signal will be emitted.

IN s source:: Path to bundle to be installed

The Info() Method

Note

This method is deprecated. Use InspectBundle() instead.

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer.Info()
Info (IN  s bundle, s compatible, s version);

Provides bundle info.

IN s bundle:: Path to bundle information should be shown
s compatible:: Compatible of bundle
s version:: Version string of bundle

The InspectBundle() Method

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer.InspectBundle()
InspectBundle (IN  s bundle, IN a{sv} args, a{sv} info);

Provides bundle info. It uses the same nested dictionary structure as rauc info --output-format=json-2.

IN s bundle:

Path or URL to the bundle that should be queried for information

IN a{sv} args:

Arguments to pass to information

Currently supported:

STRING 'tls-cert', VARIANT 's' <filename/pkcs11-url>:
	Use the provided certificate for TLS client authentication
STRING 'tls-key', VARIANT 's' <filename/pkcs11-url>:
	Use the provided private key for TLS client authentication
STRING 'tls-ca', VARIANT 's' <filename/pkcs11-url>:	Use the provided certificate to authenticate the server (instead of the system wide store)
STRING 'http-headers', VARIANT 'as' <array of strings>:
	Add the provided headers to every request (i.e. for bearer tokens)
STRING 'tls-no-verify', VARIANT 'b' <true/false>:	Ignore verification errors for the server certificate

a{sv} info:

Bundle info

STRING 'manifest-hash', VARIANT 's' <hash>:

A SHA256 hash sum over the manifest content

STRING 'update', VARIANT 'v' <update-dict>:

The bundle's [update] section content

STRING 'compatible', VARIANT 's' <compatible>:	The compatible noted in the manifest
STRING 'version', VARIANT 's' <version>:	The version noted in the manifest
STRING 'description', VARIANT 's' <description>:	The description text noted in the manifest
STRING 'build', VARIANT 's' <build>:	The build ID noted in the manifest

STRING 'bundle', VARIANT 'v' <bundle-dict>:

The bundle's [bundle] section content

STRING 'format', VARIANT 's' <format>:	The bundle format (i.e. plain, verity or crypt)
STRING 'verity-size', VARIANT 't' <size>:	The size of the verity-protected payload
STRING 'verity-salt', VARIANT 's' <salt>:	The salt used by the verity-protected payload
STRING 'verity-hash', VARIANT 's' <hash>:	The root hash of the verity-protected payload

STRING 'hooks', VARIANT 'v' <hooks-dict>:

The bundle's [hooks] section content

STRING 'filename', VARIANT 's' <filename>:	The hook filename
STRING 'hooks', VARIANT 'as' <hooks>:	An array of enabled hooks (i.e. `install-check`)

STRING 'handler', VARIANT 'v' <handler-dict>:

The bundle's [handler] section content

STRING 'filename', VARIANT 's' <filename>:	The handler filename
STRING 'args', VARIANT 's' <args>:	Optional arguments to the handler

STRING 'images', VARIANT 'v' <images-list>:

The bundle's [images.*] section content, as a list of dictionaries

STRING 'slot-class', VARIANT 's' <slot-class>:	The slot class this image is intended for
STRING 'variant', VARIANT 's' <variant>:	The variant name, if used
STRING 'filename', VARIANT 's' <filename>:	The image's filename
STRING 'checksum', VARIANT 's' <checksum>:	The original image's SHA256 hash
STRING 'size', VARIANT 't' <slot-class>:	The original image's size
STRING 'hooks', VARIANT 'as' <hooks>:	An array of enabled hooks (i.e. `pre-install`, `install` or `post-install`)
STRING 'adaptive', VARIANT 'as' <adaptive-methods>:	An array of enabled adaptive methods (i.e. `block-hash-index`)

STRING 'meta', VARIANT 'v' <meta-dict>:

The bundle's [meta.*] section content

STRING '<group>', VARIANT 'v' <meta-group-dict>:

The [meta.<group>] section content

STRING '<key>', VARIANT 's' <value>:	A key-value pair from the `[meta.<group>]` section

The Mark() Method

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer.Mark()
Mark (IN  s state, IN  s slot_identifier, s slot_name, s message);

Keeps a slot bootable (state == "good"), makes it unbootable (state == "bad") or explicitly activates it for the next boot (state == "active").

IN s state:: Operation to perform (one out of "good", "bad" or "active")
IN s slot_identifier:: Can be "booted", "other" or <SLOT_NAME> (e.g. "rootfs.1")
s slot_name:: Name of the slot which has ultimately been marked
s message:: Message describing what has been done successfully (e.g. "activated slot rootfs.0")

The GetSlotStatus() Method

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer.GetSlotStatus()
GetSlotStatus (a(sa{sv}) slot_status_array);

Access method to get all slots' status.

a(sa{sv}) slot_status_array:: Array of (slotname, dict) tuples with each dictionary representing the status of the corresponding slot

The GetPrimary() Method

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer.GetPrimary()
GetPrimary (s primary);

Get the current primary slot.

Signal Details

The "Completed" Signal

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer::Completed
Completed (i result);

This signal is emitted when an installation completed, either successfully or with an error.

i result:: return code (0 for success)

Property Details

The "Operation" Property

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer:Operation
Operation  readable   s

Represents the current (global) operation RAUC performs. Possible values are idle or installing.

The "LastError" Property

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer:LastError
LastError  readable   s

Holds the last message of the last error that occurred.

The "Progress" Property

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer:Progress
Progress  readable   (isi)

Provides installation progress information in the form

(percentage, message, nesting depth)

Refer :ref:`Processing Progress Data <sec_processing_progress>` section.

The "Compatible" Property

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer:Compatible
Compatible  readable   s

Represents the system's compatible. This can be used to check for usable bundles.

The "Variant" Property

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer:Variant
Variant  readable   s

Represents the system's variant. This can be used to select parts of an bundle.

The "BootSlot" Property

de.pengutronix.rauc.Installer:BootSlot
BootSlot  readable   s

Contains the information RAUC uses to identify the booted slot. It is derived from the kernel command line. This can either be the slot name (e.g. rauc.slot=rootfs.0) or the root device path (e.g. root=PARTUUID=0815). If the root= kernel command line option is used, the symlink is resolved to the block device (e.g. /dev/mmcblk0p1).

RAUC's Basic Update Procedure

Performing an update using the default RAUC mechanism will work as follows:

Startup, read system configuration
Determine slot states
Verify bundle signature (reject if invalid)
Mount bundle (SquashFS)
Parse and verify manifest
Determine target install group
1. Execute pre install handler (optional)
Verify bundle compatible against system compatible (reject if not matching)
Mark target slots as non-bootable for bootloader
Iterate over each slot image specified in the manifest
1. Determine update handler (based on image and slot type)
2. Try to mount slot and read slot status information
  1. Skip update if new image hash matches hash of installed one
3. Perform slot update (image copy / mkfs+tar extract / ...)
4. Try to write slot status information
Iterate over each artifact image specified in the manifest
1. Determine target repository and type
2. Deactivate old artifacts for which no image exists in the bundle
3. Install new artifact into the repository
4. Create link to newly installed artifact
Mark target slots as new primary boot source for the bootloader
1. Execute post install handler (optional)
Unmount bundle
Terminate successfully if no error occurred

Bootloader Interaction

RAUC comes with a generic interface for interacting with the bootloader. It handles all slots that have a bootname property set.

It provides two base functions:

Setting state 'good' or 'bad', reflected by API routine r_boot_set_state() and command line tool option rauc status mark <good/bad>
Marking a slot 'primary', reflected by API routine r_boot_set_primary() and command line tool option rauc status mark-active

The default flow of how they will be called during the installation of a new bundle (on Slot 'A') looks as follows:

The aim of setting state 'bad' is to disable a slot in a way that the bootloader will not select it for booting anymore. As shown above this is either the case before an installation to make the update atomic from the bootloader's perspective, or optionally after the installation and a reboot into the new system, when a service detects that the system is in an unusable state. This potentially allows falling back to a working system.

The aim of setting a slot 'primary' is to let the bootloader select this slot upon next reboot in case of having completed the installation successfully. An alternative to directly marking a slot primary after installation is to manually mark it primary at a later point in time, e.g. to let a complete set of devices change their software revision at the same time.

Setting the slot 'good' is relevant for the first boot but for all subsequent boots, too. In most cases, this interaction with the bootloader is required by the mechanism that enables fallback capability; rebooting a system one or several times without calling rauc status mark-good will let the bootloader boot an alternative system or abort boot operation (depending on configuration). Usually, bootloaders implement this fallback mechanism by some kind of counters they maintain and decrease upon each boot. In these cases marking good means resetting these counters.

A normal reboot of the system will look as follows:

Some bootloaders do not require explicitly setting state 'good' as they are able to differentiate between a POR and a watchdog reset, for example.

What the high-level functions described above actually do mainly depends on the underlying bootloader used and the capabilities it provides. Below is a short description about behavior of each bootloader interface currently implemented:

U-Boot

The U-Boot implementation assumes to have variables BOOT_ORDER and BOOT_x_LEFT handled by the bootloader scripting.

state bad:	Sets the BOOT_x_LEFT variable of the slot to 0 and removes it from the BOOT_ORDER list
state good:	Sets the BOOT_x_LEFT variable back to its default value (3).
primary:	Moves the slot from its current position in the list in BOOT_ORDER to the first place and sets BOOT_x_LEFT to its initial value (3). If BOOT_ORDER was unset before, it generates a new list of all slots known to RAUC with the one to activate at the first position.

Barebox

The barebox implementation assumes using barebox bootchooser.

state bad:	Sets both the bootstate.systemX.priority and bootstate.systemX.remaining_attempts to 0.
state good:	Sets the bootstate.systemX.remaining_attempts to its default value (3).
primary:	Sets bootstate.systemX.priority to 20 and all other priorities that were non-zero before to 10. It also sets bootstate.systemX.remaining_attempts to its initial value (3).

GRUB

state bad:	Sets slot x_OK to 0 and resets x_TRY to 0.
state good:	Sets slot x_OK to 1 and resets x_TRY to 0.
primary:	Sets slot x_OK to 1 and resets x_TRY to 0. Sets ORDER to contain slot `x` as first element and all other after.

EFI

state bad:

Removes the slot from BootOrder

state good:

Prepends the slot to the BootOrder list. This behaves slightly different than the other implementations because we use BootNext for allowing setting primary with an initial fallback option. Setting state good is then used to persist this.

primary:

Sets the slot as BootNext by default. This will make the slot being booted upon next reboot only!

The behavior is different when efi-use-bootnext is set to false. Then this prepends the slot to the BootOrder list as described for 'state good'.

Note

EFI implementations differ in how they handle new or unbootable targets etc. It may also depend on the actual implementation if EFI variable writing is atomic or not. Thus make sure your EFI works as expected and required.

Files

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Reference

[system] Section

[keyring] Section

[streaming] Section

[encryption] Section

[casync] Section

[autoinstall] Section

[handlers] Section

[slot.<slot-class>.<idx>] Sections

[artifacts.<repo-name>] Sections

[log.<logger>] Sections

[update] Section

[bundle] Section

[hooks] Section

[handler] Section

[image.*] Sections

[meta.<label>] Sections

Supported Image Types (Extensions)

plain Format

verity Format

crypt Format

External Signing and PKI

Install Hooks Interface

Slot Hooks Interface

Methods

Signals

Properties

Description

Method Details

The InstallBundle() Method

The Install() Method

The Info() Method

The InspectBundle() Method

The Mark() Method

The GetSlotStatus() Method

The GetPrimary() Method

Signal Details

The "Completed" Signal

Property Details

The "Operation" Property

The "LastError" Property

The "Progress" Property

The "Compatible" Property

The "Variant" Property

The "BootSlot" Property

U-Boot

Barebox

GRUB

EFI

`[system]` Section

`[keyring]` Section

`[streaming]` Section

`[encryption]` Section

`[casync]` Section

`[autoinstall]` Section

`[handlers]` Section

`[slot.<slot-class>.<idx>]` Sections

`[artifacts.<repo-name>]` Sections

`[log.<logger>]` Sections

`[update]` Section

`[bundle]` Section

`[hooks]` Section

`[handler]` Section

`[image.*]` Sections

`[meta.<label>]` Sections