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+<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
+<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
+ "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
+
+<!--
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+This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
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+-->
+
+<refentry id="ostree">
+
+ <refentryinfo>
+ <title>ostree prepare-root</title>
+ <productname>OSTree</productname>
+
+ <authorgroup>
+ <author>
+ <contrib>Developer</contrib>
+ <firstname>Colin</firstname>
+ <surname>Walters</surname>
+ <email>walters@verbum.org</email>
+ </author>
+ </authorgroup>g
+ </refentryinfo>
+
+ <refmeta>
+ <refentrytitle>ostree prepare-root</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+ </refmeta>
+
+ <refnamediv>
+ <refname>ostree-prepare-root</refname>
+ <refpurpose>Change the view of a mounted root filesystem to an ostree deployment</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+
+ <refsynopsisdiv>
+ <cmdsynopsis>
+ <command>ostree prepare-root</command> <arg choice="req">TARGET</arg>
+ </cmdsynopsis>
+ </refsynopsisdiv>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Description</title>
+
+ <para>
+ At its core, ostree operates on an existing mounted filesystem. Tooling such
+ as <literal>ostree admin deploy</literal> will create a new directory that can be
+ used as a bootable target. This tool is designed to run in an initramfs and
+ set up "remapping" mounts as a view into that filesystem.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ As of more recently, this tool also has optional support for composefs, which
+ creates a distinct mount point layered on top of the underlying filesystem.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The most common pattern today is to use systemd in an initramfs. The systemd
+ unit shipped upstream is ordered in this way:
+
+ <literal>After=sysroot.mount</literal> and <literal>Before=initrd-root-fs.target</literal>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ When it runs, the mounted filesystem at the provided <literal>TARGET</literal> (usually <literal>/sysroot</literal>)
+ will be changed such that what appears at <literal>/sysroot</literal> is actually the
+ "deployment root" - i.e. a particular versioned subdirectory. What was formerly the
+ "physical root" i.e. the real root of the filesystem will appear as <literal>/sysroot/sysroot</literal>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ For <literal>/var</literal>, by default a bind mount is created from the deployment root to <literal>/sysroot/var</literal>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ A read-only bind mount is created over <literal>/sysroot/usr</literal>. The immutable bit is set on the deployment
+ root, so this provides basic protection for filesystem mutation. If the <literal>sysroot.readonly</literal>
+ option is enabled, instead a writable bind mount for <literal>/sysroot/etc</literal>, and everything else
+ is mounted read-only.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Finally, when higher level tooling such as systemd performs a switch-root operation, what
+ was <literal>/sysroot</literal> becomes <literal>/</literal> and after the transition into
+ the real root, the system will be booted into the "deployment", which is a versioned immutable
+ filesystem tree. The ostree tooling running in the real root thereafter performs further changes
+ by operating on <literal>/sysroot</literal> which is now the "physical root".
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>systemd</title>
+
+ <para>
+ As mentioned above, this tool comes with a systemd unit file <literal>ostree-prepare-root.service</literal>
+ and it is primarily expected to be invoked this way.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Composefs</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The default for ostree is to create a plain hardlinked filesystem tree.
+ composefs support is currently experimental; see the upstream <literal>doc/composefs.md</literal>
+ for more information on using it.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+</refentry>