[GH-ISSUE #831] private-etc invalid #564

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opened 2026-05-05 06:09:36 -06:00 by gitea-mirror · 2 comments
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Originally created by @vismir2 on GitHub (Oct 2, 2016).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/831

According to the manpage:

--private-etc=file,directory
Build a new /etc in a temporary filesystem, and copy the files and directories in the
list. If no listed file is found, /etc directory will be empty. All modifications are
discarded when the sandbox is closed.

However when private-etc is used without additional files in the profile, executing the corresponding program leads to an error: "*.profile is invalid"

Originally created by @vismir2 on GitHub (Oct 2, 2016). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/831 According to the manpage: --private-etc=file,directory Build a new /etc in a temporary filesystem, and copy the files and directories in the list. If no listed file is found, /etc directory will be empty. All modifications are discarded when the sandbox is closed. However when private-etc is used without additional files in the profile, executing the corresponding program leads to an error: "*.profile is invalid"
gitea-mirror 2026-05-05 06:09:36 -06:00
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@chiraag-nataraj commented on GitHub (Oct 2, 2016):

Yeah, I've noticed this too. @netblue30, would it be possible to allow no parameters for private-etc? That way, it would be easy to basically have a completely blank /etc directory.

<!-- gh-comment-id:250978039 --> @chiraag-nataraj commented on GitHub (Oct 2, 2016): Yeah, I've noticed this too. @netblue30, would it be possible to allow _no_ parameters for `private-etc`? That way, it would be easy to basically have a completely blank `/etc` directory.
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@netblue30 commented on GitHub (Oct 3, 2016):

It is already implemented. Do "--private-etc=empty" on command line, or "private-etc empty" in a profile file. Failing to find /etc/empty file, Firejail will just mount an empty tmpfs on top of /etc.

<!-- gh-comment-id:251118062 --> @netblue30 commented on GitHub (Oct 3, 2016): It is already implemented. Do "--private-etc=empty" on command line, or "private-etc empty" in a profile file. Failing to find /etc/empty file, Firejail will just mount an empty tmpfs on top of /etc.
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Reference: github-starred/firejail#564
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