[systemd-devel] /run/systemd/propagate/example.service deletion

[Stefan Catargiu]

Hello all,

I have noticed that when using certain sandboxing features for units, e.g. ProtectHome, 
a directory will get created in /run/systemd/propagate with the name of the service, 
e.g. /run/systemd/propagate/example.service, which systemd is then using for certain bind mounts.

Now, the thing is, that directory is never going to be deleted after the service stops, 
which is all good, after all /run is a tmpfs, but this is becoming slightly problematic 
when using instantiated services, you can end up with large numbers of directories
under /run/systemd/propagate.

I have seen some extreme cases where /run runs out of inodes because of this. 
One extreme example : way too many directories are created under /run/systemd/propagate when a lot 
of coredumps are generated on a system which uses systemd-coredump.
You will have one instantiated unit per coredump, hence a directory like 
/run/systemd/propagate/systemd-coredump at 1-1234-0.service is going to be created and so on.

All things considered, shouldn’t these directories be deleted after a service stops?

Thank you!

BR,
Stefan