3 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
4 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
5 <!ENTITY % entities SYSTEM "custom-entities.ent" >
8 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
10 <refentry id="org.freedesktop.hostname1" conditional='ENABLE_HOSTNAMED'
11 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
13 <title>org.freedesktop.hostname1</title>
14 <productname>systemd</productname>
18 <refentrytitle>org.freedesktop.hostname1</refentrytitle>
19 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
23 <refname>org.freedesktop.hostname1</refname>
24 <refpurpose>The D-Bus interface of systemd-hostnamed</refpurpose>
28 <title>Introduction</title>
31 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-hostnamed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
32 is a system service that can be used to control the hostname and related machine metadata from user
33 programs. This page describes the hostname semantics and the D-Bus interface.</para>
37 <title>The D-Bus API</title>
39 <para>The service exposes the following interfaces on the bus:</para>
41 <programlisting executable="systemd-hostnamed" node="/org/freedesktop/hostname1" interface="org.freedesktop.hostname1">
42 node /org/freedesktop/hostname1 {
43 interface org.freedesktop.hostname1 {
45 SetHostname(in s hostname,
47 SetStaticHostname(in s hostname,
49 SetPrettyHostname(in s hostname,
51 SetIconName(in s icon,
53 SetChassis(in s chassis,
55 SetDeployment(in s deployment,
57 SetLocation(in s location,
59 GetProductUUID(in b interactive,
61 GetHardwareSerial(out s serial);
64 readonly s Hostname = '...';
65 readonly s StaticHostname = '...';
66 readonly s PrettyHostname = '...';
67 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
68 readonly s DefaultHostname = '...';
69 readonly s HostnameSource = '...';
70 readonly s IconName = '...';
71 readonly s Chassis = '...';
72 readonly s Deployment = '...';
73 readonly s Location = '...';
74 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
75 readonly s KernelName = '...';
76 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
77 readonly s KernelRelease = '...';
78 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
79 readonly s KernelVersion = '...';
80 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
81 readonly s OperatingSystemPrettyName = '...';
82 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
83 readonly s OperatingSystemCPEName = '...';
84 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
85 readonly t OperatingSystemSupportEnd = ...;
86 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
87 readonly s HomeURL = '...';
88 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
89 readonly s HardwareVendor = '...';
90 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
91 readonly s HardwareModel = '...';
92 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
93 readonly s FirmwareVersion = '...';
94 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
95 readonly s FirmwareVendor = '...';
96 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
97 readonly t FirmwareDate = ...;
98 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
99 readonly ay MachineID = [...];
100 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
101 readonly ay BootID = [...];
102 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
103 readonly u VSockCID = ...;
105 interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Peer { ... };
106 interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable { ... };
107 interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties { ... };
111 <!--Autogenerated cross-references for systemd.directives, do not edit-->
113 <variablelist class="dbus-interface" generated="True" extra-ref="org.freedesktop.hostname1"/>
115 <variablelist class="dbus-interface" generated="True" extra-ref="org.freedesktop.hostname1"/>
117 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="SetHostname()"/>
119 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="SetStaticHostname()"/>
121 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="SetPrettyHostname()"/>
123 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="SetIconName()"/>
125 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="SetChassis()"/>
127 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="SetDeployment()"/>
129 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="SetLocation()"/>
131 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="GetProductUUID()"/>
133 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="GetHardwareSerial()"/>
135 <variablelist class="dbus-method" generated="True" extra-ref="Describe()"/>
137 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="Hostname"/>
139 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="StaticHostname"/>
141 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="PrettyHostname"/>
143 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="DefaultHostname"/>
145 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="HostnameSource"/>
147 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="IconName"/>
149 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="Chassis"/>
151 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="Deployment"/>
153 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="Location"/>
155 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="KernelName"/>
157 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="KernelRelease"/>
159 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="KernelVersion"/>
161 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="OperatingSystemPrettyName"/>
163 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="OperatingSystemCPEName"/>
165 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="OperatingSystemSupportEnd"/>
167 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="HomeURL"/>
169 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="HardwareVendor"/>
171 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="HardwareModel"/>
173 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="FirmwareVersion"/>
175 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="FirmwareVendor"/>
177 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="FirmwareDate"/>
179 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="MachineID"/>
181 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="BootID"/>
183 <variablelist class="dbus-property" generated="True" extra-ref="VSockCID"/>
185 <!--End of Autogenerated section-->
187 <para>Whenever the hostname or other metadata is changed via the daemon,
188 <function>PropertyChanged</function> signals are sent out to subscribed clients. Changing a hostname
189 using this interface is authenticated via
190 <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/">polkit</ulink>.</para>
194 <title>Semantics</title>
196 <para>The <varname>StaticHostname</varname> property exposes the "static" hostname configured in
197 <filename>/etc/hostname</filename>. It is not always in sync with the current hostname as returned by the
198 <citerefentry project="man-pages"><refentrytitle>gethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
199 system call. If no static hostname is configured this property will be the empty string.</para>
201 <para>When <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> or
202 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-hostnamed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
203 set the hostname, this static hostname <emphasis>has the highest priority</emphasis>.</para>
205 <para>The <varname>Hostname</varname> property exposes the actual hostname configured in the kernel via
206 <citerefentry project="man-pages"><refentrytitle>sethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
207 It can be different from the static hostname. This property is never empty.</para>
209 <para>The <varname>PrettyHostname</varname> property exposes the <emphasis>pretty hostname</emphasis>
210 which is a free-form UTF-8 hostname for presentation to the user. User interfaces should ensure that the
211 pretty hostname and the static hostname stay in sync. E.g. when the former is <literal>Lennart’s
212 Computer</literal> the latter should be <literal>lennarts-computer</literal>. If no pretty hostname is
213 set this setting will be the empty string. Applications should then find a suitable fallback, such as the
214 dynamic hostname.</para>
216 <para>The <varname>DefaultHostname</varname> property exposes the default hostname (configured through
217 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>os-release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, or a
218 fallback set at compilation time).</para>
220 <para>The <varname>HostnameSource</varname> property exposes the origin of the currently configured
221 hostname. One of <literal>static</literal> (set from <filename>/etc/hostname</filename>),
222 <literal>transient</literal> (a non-permanent hostname from an external source),
223 <literal>default</literal> (the value from <filename>os-release</filename> or the compiled-in
226 <para>The <varname>IconName</varname> property exposes the <emphasis>icon name</emphasis> following the
227 XDG icon naming spec. If not set, information such as the chassis type (see below) is used to find a
228 suitable fallback icon name (i.e. <literal>computer-laptop</literal>
229 vs. <literal>computer-desktop</literal> is picked based on the chassis information). If no such data is
230 available, the empty string is returned. In that case an application should fall back to a replacement
231 icon, for example <literal>computer</literal>. If this property is set to the empty string, the automatic
232 fallback name selection is enabled again.</para>
234 <para>The <varname>Chassis</varname> property exposes a <emphasis>chassis type</emphasis>, one of the
235 currently defined chassis types: <literal>desktop</literal>, <literal>laptop</literal>,
236 <literal>server</literal>, <literal>tablet</literal>, <literal>handset</literal>, as well as the special
237 chassis types <literal>vm</literal> and <literal>container</literal> for virtualized systems. Note that
238 in most cases the chassis type will be determined automatically from DMI/SMBIOS/ACPI firmware
239 information. Writing to this setting is hence useful only to override misdetected chassis types, or to
240 configure the chassis type if it could not be auto-detected. Set this property to the empty string to
241 reenable the automatic detection of the chassis type from firmware information.</para>
243 <para>Note that <filename>systemd-hostnamed</filename> starts only on request and terminates after a
244 short idle period. This effectively means that <function>PropertyChanged</function> messages are not sent
245 out for changes made directly on the files (as in: administrator edits the files with vi). This is
246 the intended behavior: manual configuration changes should require manual reloading.</para>
248 <para>The transient (dynamic) hostname exposed by the <varname>Hostname</varname> property maps directly
249 to the kernel hostname. This hostname should be assumed to be highly dynamic, and hence should be watched
250 directly, without depending on <function>PropertyChanged</function> messages from
251 <filename>systemd-hostnamed</filename>. To accomplish this, open
252 <filename>/proc/sys/kernel/hostname</filename> and
253 <citerefentry project="man-pages"><refentrytitle>poll</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
254 for <constant>SIGHUP</constant> which is triggered by the kernel every time the hostname changes. Again:
255 this is special for the transient (dynamic) hostname, and does not apply to the configured (fixed)
258 <para>Applications may read the hostname data directly if hostname change notifications
259 are not necessary. Use
260 <citerefentry project="man-pages"><refentrytitle>gethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
261 <filename>/etc/hostname</filename> (possibly with per-distribution fallbacks), and
262 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
263 for that. For more information on these files and syscalls see the respective man pages.</para>
265 <para><varname>KernelName</varname>, <varname>KernelRelease</varname>, and
266 <varname>KernelVersion</varname> expose the kernel name (e.g. <literal>Linux</literal>), release
267 (e.g. <literal>5.0.0-11</literal>), and version (i.e. the build number, e.g. <literal>#11</literal>) as
268 reported by <citerefentry project="man-pages"><refentrytitle>uname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
269 <varname>OperatingSystemPrettyName</varname>, <varname>OperatingSystemCPEName</varname>, and
270 <varname>HomeURL</varname> expose the <varname>PRETTY_NAME=</varname>, <varname>CPE_NAME=</varname> and
271 <varname>HOME_URL=</varname> fields from
272 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>os-release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. The
273 purpose of those properties is to allow remote clients to access this information over D-Bus. Local
274 clients can access the information directly.</para>
276 <para><varname>MachineID</varname> expose the 128bit machine ID, see
277 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
280 <para><varname>BootID</varname> expose the 128bit boot ID, as per
281 <filename>/proc/sys/kernel/random/boot_id</filename>.</para>
283 <para><varname>VSockCID</varname> exposes the system's local <constant>AF_VSOCK</constant> CID (Context
284 Identifier, i.e. address) for the system, if one is available in the virtual machine environment. Set to
285 <constant>UINT32_MAX</constant> otherwise. See <citerefentry project="man-pages"><refentrytitle>vsock</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
288 <para><varname>OperatingSystemSupportEnd</varname> exposes when the OS' vendor support ends, if this
289 information is known. It's an unsigned 64bit value, in µs since the UNIX epoch, UTC. If this information
290 is not known carries the value 2^64-1, i.e. <constant>UINT64_MAX</constant>.</para>
292 <para><varname>HardwareVendor</varname> and <varname>HardwareModel</varname> expose information about the
293 vendor of the hardware of the system. If no such information can be determined these properties are set
294 to empty strings.</para>
296 <para><varname>FirmwareVersion</varname> and <varname>FirmwareVendor</varname> expose information about
297 the system's firmware, i.e. a version string and a vendor name. If no such information can be determined
298 these properties are set to empty strings.</para>
300 <para><varname>FirmwareDate</varname> exposes the firmware build date, if that information is known. It's
301 an unsigned 64bit value, in µs since the UNIX epoch, UTC. If not known
302 <constant>UNIT64_MAX</constant>.</para>
305 <title>Methods</title>
307 <para><function>SetHostname()</function> sets the transient (dynamic) hostname, which is used if no
308 static hostname is set. This value must be an internet-style hostname, 7-bit lowercase ASCII, no
309 special chars/spaces. An empty string will unset the transient hostname.</para>
311 <para><function>SetStaticHostname()</function> sets the static hostname which is exposed by the
312 <varname>StaticHostname</varname> property. When called with an empty argument, the static
313 configuration in <filename>/etc/hostname</filename> is removed. Since the static hostname has the
314 highest priority, calling this function usually affects also the <varname>Hostname</varname> property
315 and the effective hostname configured in the kernel.</para>
317 <para><function>SetPrettyHostname()</function> sets the pretty hostname which is exposed by the
318 <varname>PrettyHostname</varname> property.</para>
320 <para><function>SetIconName()</function>, <function>SetChassis()</function>,
321 <function>SetDeployment()</function>, and <function>SetLocation()</function> set the properties
322 <varname>IconName</varname> (the name of the icon representing for the machine),
323 <varname>Chassis</varname> (the machine form factor), <varname>Deployment</varname> (the system
324 deployment environment), and <varname>Location</varname> (physical system location), respectively.
327 <para><varname>PrettyHostname</varname>, <varname>IconName</varname>, <varname>Chassis</varname>,
328 <varname>Deployment</varname>, and <varname>Location</varname> are stored in
329 <filename>/etc/machine-info</filename>. See
330 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
331 the semantics of those settings.</para>
333 <para><function>GetProductUUID()</function> returns the "product UUID" as exposed by the kernel based
334 on DMI information in <filename>/sys/class/dmi/id/product_uuid</filename>. Reading the file directly
335 requires root privileges, and this method allows access to unprivileged clients through the polkit
338 <para><function>GetHardwareSerial()</function> returns the "hardware serial" as exposed by the kernel
339 based on DMI information. Reading the file directly requires root privileges, and this method allows
340 access to unprivileged clients through the polkit framework.</para>
342 <para><function>Describe()</function> returns a JSON representation of all properties in one.</para>
346 <title>Security</title>
348 <para>The <varname>interactive</varname> boolean parameters can be used to control whether polkit
349 should interactively ask the user for authentication credentials if required.</para>
351 <para>The polkit action for <function>SetHostname()</function> is
352 <interfacename>org.freedesktop.hostname1.set-hostname</interfacename>. For
353 <function>SetStaticHostname()</function> and <function>SetPrettyHostname()</function> it is
354 <interfacename>org.freedesktop.hostname1.set-static-hostname</interfacename>. For
355 <function>SetIconName()</function>, <function>SetChassis()</function>, <function>SetDeployment()</function>
356 and <function>SetLocation()</function> it is
357 <interfacename>org.freedesktop.hostname1.set-machine-info</interfacename>.</para>
362 <title>Recommendations</title>
364 <para>Here are three examples that show how the pretty hostname and the icon name should be used:
366 <listitem><para>When registering DNS-SD services: use the pretty hostname in the service name, and pass
367 the icon name in the TXT data, if there is an icon name. Browsing clients can then show the server icon
368 on each service. This is especially useful for WebDAV applications or UPnP media sharing.
371 <listitem><para>Set the bluetooth name to the pretty hostname.</para></listitem>
373 <listitem><para>When your file browser has a "Computer" icon, replace the name with the pretty hostname
374 if set, and the icon with the icon name, if it is set.</para></listitem>
375 </itemizedlist></para>
377 <para>To properly handle name lookups with changing local hostnames without having to edit
378 <filename>/etc/hosts</filename>, we recommend using <filename>systemd-hostnamed</filename> in combination
379 with <citerefentry><refentrytitle>nss-myhostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
382 <para>Here are some recommendations to follow when generating a static (internet) hostname from a pretty
385 <listitem><para>Generate a single DNS label only, not an FQDN. That means no dots allowed. Strip them,
386 or replace them with <literal>-</literal>.</para></listitem>
388 <listitem><para>It's probably safer to not use any non-ASCII chars, even if DNS allows this in some way
389 these days. In fact, restrict your charset to <literal>a-zA-Z0-9</literal> and <literal>-</literal>.
390 Strip other chars, or try to replace them in some smart way with chars from this set, for example
391 <literal>ä</literal> → <literal>ae</literal>, and use <literal>-</literal> as the replacement for all
392 punctuation characters and whitespace.</para></listitem>
394 <listitem><para>Try to avoid creating repeated <literal>-</literal>, as well as <literal>-</literal> as
395 the first or last char.</para></listitem>
397 <listitem><para>Limit the hostname to 63 chars, which is the length of a DNS label.</para></listitem>
399 <listitem><para>If after stripping special chars the empty string is the result, you can pass this
400 as-is to <filename>systemd-hostnamed</filename> in which case it will automatically use a suitable
401 fallback.</para></listitem>
403 <listitem><para>Uppercase characters should be replaced with their lowercase equivalents.
405 </itemizedlist></para>
407 <para>Note that while <filename>systemd-hostnamed</filename> applies some checks to the hostname you pass
408 they are much looser than the recommendations above. For example, <filename>systemd-hostnamed</filename>
409 will also accept <literal>_</literal> in the hostname, but we recommend not using this to avoid clashes
410 with DNS-SD service types. Also <filename>systemd-hostnamed</filename> allows longer hostnames, but
411 because of the DNS label limitations, we recommend not making use of this.</para>
413 <para>Here are a couple of example conversions:
415 <listitem><para><literal>Lennart's PC</literal> → <literal>lennarts-pc</literal></para></listitem>
416 <listitem><para><literal>Müllers Computer</literal> → <literal>muellers-computer</literal></para></listitem>
417 <listitem><para><literal>Voran!</literal> → <literal>voran</literal></para></listitem>
418 <listitem><para><literal>Es war einmal ein Männlein</literal> → <literal>es-war-einmal-ein-maennlein</literal></para></listitem>
419 <listitem><para><literal>Jawoll. Ist doch wahr!</literal> → <literal>jawoll-ist-doch-wahr</literal></para></listitem>
420 <listitem><para><literal>レナート</literal> → <literal>localhost</literal></para></listitem>
421 <listitem><para><literal>...zack!!! zack!...</literal> → <literal>zack-zack</literal></para></listitem>
422 </itemizedlist></para>
424 <para>Of course, an already valid internet hostname label you enter and pass through this
425 conversion should stay unmodified, so that users have direct control of it, if they want — by simply
426 ignoring the fact that the pretty hostname is pretty and just edit it as if it was the normal internet
431 <title>Examples</title>
434 <title>Introspect <interfacename>org.freedesktop.hostname1</interfacename> on the bus</title>
436 <programlisting>$ gdbus introspect --system \
437 --dest org.freedesktop.hostname1 \
438 --object-path /org/freedesktop/hostname1
443 <xi:include href="org.freedesktop.locale1.xml" xpointer="versioning"/>
446 <title>History</title>
448 <title>The D-Bus API</title>
449 <para><varname>FirmwareVersion</varname> and
450 <function>GetHardwareSerial()</function> were added in version 251.</para>
451 <para><varname>OperatingSystemSupportEnd</varname>,
452 <varname>FirmwareVendor</varname>, and
453 <varname>FirmwareDate</varname> were added in version 253.</para>
454 <para><varname>MachineID</varname>, <varname>BootID</varname> and
455 <varname>VSockCID</varname> were added in version 256.</para>
460 <title>See Also</title>
462 <para><simplelist type="inline">
463 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
464 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-hostnamed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
465 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostnamectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
466 <member>David Zeuthen's original Fedora
467 <ulink url="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/BetterHostname">Feature page about xdg-hostname</ulink></member>