Configuration reference

Everything tunable in the files-symlinking subsystem lives in exactly two places: three _VAR lines in /root/.barracuda.cnf that govern the nightly automation only, and a small catalogue of presence-tested control files (box-wide under /data/conf/, per-account under static/control/) that switch individual behaviours without a code change. Native symlink creation for new sites and the clone handling need none of the variables — they are on by default and are turned off only by the kill-switch control files below. This page is the authoritative list of both layers; the mechanisms they switch are described on the overview, nightly automation, orphans & archiving and backups on the static FS pages.

Variables in /root/.barracuda.cnf

Variable Default What it controls
_AUTOSYMLINK_NIGHTLY NO (YES seeded on .aegir.cc hosts) YES enables the nightly global auto-fix: converts any not-yet-symlinked site files/private dirs into the per-account static store and self-heals partly-symlinked sites. The run is skipped while backups, provision tasks or high load are active.
_ORPHAN_FILES_REPORT NO (YES seeded on .aegir.cc hosts) YES enables the nightly read-only orphan report (updatesymlinks --orphan-report): emails _MY_EMAIL only when orphaned static/files entries (storage with no matching active site) are detected. Never converts or deletes anything.
_AUTOSYMLINK_PAUSE_GRACE 240 Seconds the Aegir task queue stays paused before the auto-fix drains in-flight tasks and applies — the grace that lets a runner.sh already mid-dispatch finish cleanly. Designed for a 3–5 minute band; 0 skips the wait entirely.

_MY_EMAIL (the box-wide alert address) is the recipient for both the orphan report and auto-fix notices; it is a general Barracuda variable documented under barracuda-cnf, not a symlinking-specific knob.

updatesymlinks sources /root/.barracuda.cnf at start and falls back to the defaults above (NO/NO/240) when a line is absent, so a box whose cnf predates these variables resolves to the safe opt-out values — nothing runs until you (or Barracuda, see below) put the lines in.

Persistence: how the lines get into the cnf

Barracuda writes _AUTOSYMLINK_NIGHTLY and _ORPHAN_FILES_REPORT into /root/.barracuda.cnf as ordinary editable lines on both fresh install and upgrade — but only when the line is not already present. An operator-set value is never clobbered and the default is never re-forced on each run: set either to NO (or YES) in the cnf and it stays that way across upgrades. Already-installed boxes that do not yet carry the lines pick up their class default on the next Barracuda run, so the resolved values are always visible in the cnf rather than hidden inside a script.

_AUTOSYMLINK_PAUSE_GRACE is not seeded: it is a runtime default inside updatesymlinks. To override it, add the line to /root/.barracuda.cnf yourself.

Defaults by system class

The two nightly toggles are resolved by system type, so the automation is deliberately on for one class of BOA host and off for the others:

  • omega8.cc-hosted — the system hostname ends in .aegir.cc. Both toggles are seeded to YES, so the hosted fleet runs the nightly auto-fix and orphan report out of the box. Still fully operator-toggleable, as above.
  • Remotely managed by omega8.cc — carries /root/.host8.cnf but the hostname is not .aegir.cc. Not auto-enabled: these boxes are turned on individually, coordinated per box against its available disk/IO resources, never blanket-enabled the way the hosted fleet is.
  • Self-hosted — neither marker. Off by default, pure opt-in: enable the lines in /root/.barracuda.cnf if and when you want the nightly automation.

The switch keys on the hostname only, never on /root/.host8.cnf — by design, so remotely-managed boxes carrying .host8.cnf are not swept into the automatic default.

Control files

All of these are presence switches — touch to activate, rm to restore the default; the file content is ignored — except native_files_archive_alert_kb.cnf, which is a value file. None of them ever deletes data in either state.

File Scope Effect when present
/data/conf/disable_native_files_symlink.cnf box-wide Kill-switch for native symlinking: new sites get plain real files/private directories, and the clone task leaves cloned files as-is. Existing symlinked sites are untouched.
/data/disk/<account>/static/control/no_native_files_symlink.info per-account Same kill-switch for one Octopus account only.
/data/disk/<account>/static/control/share.files.<site>.info per-site Declares a cross-site files symlink for <site> intentional (e.g. a staging copy reading the live site's uploads): the tools leave it in place instead of breaking it into a separate copy. Cloning is the one exception — a clone always gets its own copy (--force-unshare), because the new site name never opted into the share.
/data/conf/native_files_archive_alert_kb.cnf box-wide, value file Threshold in KB for the archived-store pile alert; default 1048576 KB (1 GiB). Only the first line is read and non-digit characters are stripped; if nothing numeric remains, the default stays. Controls only the alert — it never moves or deletes anything. Remove the file to restore the default.
/data/conf/disable_orphan_store_archiving.cnf box-wide Reverts the nightly sweep to report-only for deleted-site orphan stores. Archiving of a reused name on install/clone/migrate is unaffected — see orphans & archiving.
/data/conf/disable_backups_on_static_fs.cnf box-wide Disables the nightly backups relocation onto the static filesystem.
/data/disk/<account>/static/control/no_backups_on_static_fs.info per-account Same, for one account only.

The box-wide files live under /data/conf/ and require root; the per-account files — share markers included — all live in /data/disk/<account>/static/control/, beside the account's static store (static/files). A switch takes effect at the next run of whichever tool reads it — no service reload is involved.

Setting a switch

# Disable native symlinking for one account:
touch /data/disk/o1/static/control/no_native_files_symlink.info

# Alert when an account's static/files/.archived total reaches 5 GiB:
echo 5242880 > /data/conf/native_files_archive_alert_kb.cnf

# Put the nightly orphan sweep back to report-only:
touch /data/conf/disable_orphan_store_archiving.cnf

Remove any of these files to restore the default behaviour. For verifying what a given site's symlinks and archives actually look like after a configuration change, use the read-only query tools on the tools reference page.