ostree-admin-init-fs(1)

ostree-admin-init-fs1

Initialize a new root filesystem

Usage

ostree admin init-fs [OPTIONS ...] PATH

Overview

Initialize an empty physical root filesystem in the designated PATH, with normal toplevels and correct permissions for each directory. Primarily useful for operating system installers.

Options

--modern

Equivalent to --epoch=1.

--epoch

This accepts an integer value in the range [0-1], inclusive. The default is zero for compatibility.

When set to 1, the command will skip adding a number of toplevel "API filesystems" such as /proc to the toplevel of the physical root. These should be unnecessary, as they should only be mounted in the final deployment root. The main exception is /boot, which may need to be mounted in some setups before the target root.

Epoch 2 is the same as 1, except that the toplevel ostree directory is mode 0700, denying access from unprivileged code. This is a new recommended best practice as it avoids access to old configuration files in /etc in previous deployments, as well as potentially old setuid binaries in /ostree/repo.

Examples

$ mkdir /example

$ ostree admin init-fs --epoch=1 /example

$ ls /example

boot

Releases

6 releases since Debian 9 (Stretch); the text changed 5 times.

  1. 9
  2. 10
  3. 11
  4. 12
  5. 13
  6. Arch

--epoch since Debian 13 (Trixie); --modern since Debian 13 (Trixie).

From ostree 2026.4-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.