title | category | layout |
---|---|---|
systemd Repository Architecture |
Contributing |
default |
This section will attempt to provide a high-level overview of the various components of the systemd repository.
Directories in src/
provide the implementation of all daemons, libraries and
command-line tools shipped by the project. There are many, and more are
constantly added, so we will not enumerate them all here — the directory
names are self-explanatory.
You might wonder what kind of common code belongs in src/shared/
and what
belongs in src/basic/
. The split is like this: anything that is used to
implement the public shared objects we provide (sd-bus
, sd-login
,
sd-id128
, nss-systemd
, nss-mymachines
, nss-resolve
, nss-myhostname
,
pam_systemd
), must be located in src/basic
(those objects are not allowed
to link to libsystemd-shared.so
). Conversely, anything which is shared
between multiple components and does not need to be in src/basic/
, should be
in src/shared/
.
To summarize:
src/basic/
- may be used by all code in the tree
- may not use any code outside of
src/basic/
src/libsystemd/
- may be used by all code in the tree, except for code in
src/basic/
- may not use any code outside of
src/basic/
,src/libsystemd/
src/shared/
- may be used by all code in the tree, except for code in
src/basic/
,src/libsystemd/
,src/nss-*
,src/login/pam_systemd.*
, and files undersrc/journal/
that end up inlibjournal-client.a
convenience library. - may not use any code outside of
src/basic/
,src/libsystemd/
,src/shared/
Code located in src/core/
implements the main logic of the systemd system (and user)
service manager.
BPF helpers written in C and used by PID 1 can be found under src/core/bpf/
.
Sources for the udev daemon and command-line tool (single binary) can be found under
src/udev/
.
Source files found under src/test/
implement unit-level testing, mostly for
modules found in src/basic/
and src/shared/
, but not exclusively. Each test
file is compiled in a standalone binary that can be run to exercise the
corresponding module. While most of the tests can be ran by any user, some
require privileges, and will attempt to clearly log about what they need
(mostly in the form of effective capabilities). These tests are self-contained,
and generally safe to run on the host without side effects.
Ideally, every module in src/basic/
and src/shared/
should have a
corresponding unit test under src/test/
, exercising every helper function.
Sources in test/
implement system-level testing for executables, libraries and
daemons that are shipped by the project. They require privileges to run, and
are not safe to execute directly on a host. By default they will build an image
and run the test under it via QEMU
or systemd-nspawn
.
Most of those tests should be able to run via systemd-nspawn
, which is orders of
magnitude faster than QEMU
, but some tests require privileged operations like
using dm-crypt
or loopdev
. They are clearly marked if that is the case.
See test/README.testsuite
for more specific details.
Rules built in the static HWDB
database shipped by the project can be found
under hwdb.d/
. Some of these files are updated automatically, some are filled
by contributors.
Markdown files found under docs/
are automatically published on the
systemd.io website using Github Pages. A minimal unit test
to ensure the formatting doesn't have errors is included in the
meson test -C build/ github-pages
run as part of the CI.
Manpages for binaries and libraries, and the DBUS interfaces, can be found under
man/
and should ideally be kept in sync with changes to the corresponding
binaries and libraries.
Translations files for binaries and daemons, provided by volunteers, can be found
under po/
in the usual format. They are kept up to date by contributors and by
automated tools.
Presets (or templates from which they are generated) for various daemons and tools
can be found under various directories such as factory/
, modprobe.d/
, network/
,
presets/
, rules.d/
, shell-completion/
, sysctl.d/
, sysusers.d/
, tmpfiles.d/
.
tools/
, coccinelle/
, .github/
, .semaphore/
, .lgtm/
, .mkosi/
host various
utilities and scripts that are used by maintainers and developers. They are not
shipped or installed.