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Talos Linux manages most files under /etc, but some software requires additional configuration files there. Use an EtcFileConfig document to create and manage a user-owned file without adding it to the Talos image. Each EtcFileConfig document owns one complete file, including its contents and permissions. Use multiple documents to manage multiple files.

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Configure a file

  1. Create a patch named etc-file.patch.yaml with the file path relative to /etc:
  2. Replace <NODE> with the target node IP address, then apply the patch:
This example creates /etc/nfsmount.conf with mode 0644. The mode field uses octal notation and defaults to 0o644 when omitted. The contents field replaces the complete contents of the file. For a nested path, set name to a path such as example/config.yaml. Talos creates missing parent directories and writes content updates atomically, so readers do not observe a partially written file. Changes are reconciled while Talos is running and do not require a reboot. Changing contents updates the file, and deleting the document removes the file.

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Remove a managed file

  1. Create a strategic merge patch named etc-file-delete.patch.yaml that deletes the document:
  2. Replace <NODE> with the target node IP address, then apply the deletion patch:
Talos removes /etc/nfsmount.conf when it removes the document from the machine configuration.

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Path restrictions

The document name must be a non-empty local path relative to /etc. The path:
  • Must not include the /etc/ prefix.
  • Must not be absolute.
  • Must not traverse to a parent directory.
  • Must not start with ..
Talos rejects paths that it manages itself. The following exact paths are reserved:
  • resolv.conf
  • hosts
  • machine-id
  • extensions.yaml
  • localtime
  • os-release
  • xattr.conf
Talos also rejects each of the following directories and every path below it:
  • apparmor.d/
  • apparmor/
  • ca-certificates/
  • cni/
  • cri/
  • iscsi/
  • kubernetes/
  • lvm/
  • nvme/
  • pki/
  • selinux/
  • ssl/
See the EtcFileConfig reference for the complete field schema.