{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "apparmor_parser",
    "section": "8",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/apparmor_parser/8/json",
    "generated": "2026-10-05T12:57:42Z",
    "synopsis": "",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "apparmorparser - loads AppArmor profiles into the kernel\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "apparmor_parser [options] <command> [profiles]...",
                    "content": ""
                },
                {
                    "name": "apparmor_parser [options] <command>",
                    "content": ""
                },
                {
                    "name": "apparmor_parser [-hv] [--help] [--version]",
                    "content": ""
                }
            ]
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "apparmorparser is used as a general tool to compile, and manage AppArmor policy, including\nloading new apparmor.d(5) profiles into the Linux kernel.\n\nAppArmor profiles restrict the operations available to processes.\n\nThe profiles are loaded into the Linux kernel by the apparmorparser program. The profiles\nmay be specified by file name or a directory name containing a set of profiles. If a\ndirectory is specified then the apparmorparser will try to do a profile load for each file\nin the directory that is not a dot file, or explicitly black listed (*.dpkg-new, *.dpkg-old,\n*.dpkg-dist, *.dpkg-bak, *.dpkg-remove, *.pacsave, *.pacnew, *.rpmnew, *.rpmsave, *.orig,\n*.rej, *~).  The apparmorparser will fall back to taking input from standard input if a\nprofile or directory is not supplied.\n\nThe input supplied to apparmorparser should be in the format described in apparmor.d(5).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "COMMANDS": {
            "content": "The command set is broken into four subcategories.\n\nunprivileged commands\nCommands that don't require any privilege and don't operate on profiles.\n\nunprivileged profile commands\nCommands  that  operate  on  a  profile either specified on the command line or read from\nstdin if no profile was specified.\n\nprivileged commands\nCommands that require the MACADMIN capability within the affected AppArmor namespace  to\nload  policy  into  the  kernel  or  filesystem  write permissions to update the affected\nprivileged files (cache etc).\n\nprivileged profile commands\nCommands that require privilege and operate on profiles.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "Unprivileged commands": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-V, --version",
                    "content": "Print the version number and exit.\n",
                    "flag": "-V",
                    "long": "--version"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-h, --help",
                    "content": "Give a quick reference guide.\n",
                    "flag": "-h",
                    "long": "--help"
                }
            ]
        },
        "Unprivileged profile commands": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-N, --names",
                    "content": "Produce a list of policies from a given set of profiles (implies -K).\n",
                    "flag": "-N",
                    "long": "--names"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-p, --preprocess",
                    "content": "Apply preprocessing to the input  profile(s)  by  flattening  includes  into  the  output\nprofile and dump to stdout.\n",
                    "flag": "-p",
                    "long": "--preprocess"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-S, --stdout",
                    "content": "Writes a binary (cached) profile to stdout (implies -K and -T).\n\n-o file, --ofile file\nWrites a binary (cached) profile to the specified file (implies -K and -T)\n",
                    "flag": "-S",
                    "long": "--stdout"
                }
            ]
        },
        "Privileged commands": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "--purge-cache",
                    "content": "Unconditionally clear out cached profiles.\n",
                    "long": "--purge-cache"
                }
            ]
        },
        "Privileged profile commands": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-a, --add",
                    "content": "Insert  the  AppArmor definitions given into the kernel. This is the default action. This\ngives an error message if a AppArmor definition by the same name already  exists  in  the\nkernel,  or  if  the  parser  doesn't  understand  its input. It reports when an addition\nsucceeded.\n",
                    "flag": "-a",
                    "long": "--add"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-r, --replace",
                    "content": "This flag is required if an AppArmor definition by the same name already  exists  in  the\nkernel; used to replace the definition already in the kernel with the definition given on\nstandard input.\n",
                    "flag": "-r",
                    "long": "--replace"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-R, --remove",
                    "content": "This  flag  is used to remove an AppArmor definition already in the kernel.  Note that it\nstill requires a complete AppArmor definition as described in apparmor.d(5)  even  though\nthe contents of the definition aren't used.\n",
                    "flag": "-R",
                    "long": "--remove"
                }
            ]
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-B, --binary",
                    "content": "Treat  the  profile  files  specified on the command line (or stdin if none specified) as\nbinary cache files, produced with the -S or  -o  options,  and  load  to  the  kernel  as\nspecified by -a, -r, and -R (implies -K and -T).\n",
                    "flag": "-B",
                    "long": "--binary"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-C, --Complain",
                    "content": "Force the profile to load in complain mode.\n\n-b n, --base n\nSet the base directory for resolving #include directives defined as relative paths.\n\n-I n, --Include n\nAdd  element  n  to  the  search  path  when  resolving #include directives defined as an\nabsolute paths.\n\n-f n, --apparmorfs n\nSet   the   location    of    the    apparmor    security    filesystem    (default    is\n\"/sys/kernel/security/apparmor\").\n\n--policy-features n\nSpecify  the  feature  set  that  the  policy was developed under. This does not override\nfeature ABI rules.\n\n--override-policy-abi n\nSpecify the feature set that the policy was developed under and override any feature  ABI\nrules that the policy may be using.\n\n--kernel-features n\nSpecify  the  feature  set  of  the  kernel that the policy is being compiled for. If not\nspecified this will be determined by the system's kernel.\n\n-M n, --features-file n\nUse the features file located at path \"n\" (default  is  /etc/apparmor.d/cache/.features).\nIf  the  --cache-loc  option  is  present,  the  \".features\"  file in the specified cache\ndirectory is used.\n\nNote: this sets both the --kernel-features and --policy-features to be the same.\n\n-m n, --match-string n\nOnly use match features \"n\".\n\nNote: this sets both the --kernel-features and --policy-features to be the same.\n\n-n n, --namespace-string n\nForce a profile to load in the namespace \"n\".\n",
                    "flag": "-C",
                    "long": "--Complain"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-X, --readimpliesX",
                    "content": "In the case of profiles that are loading on systems were READIMPLIESEXEC is set in  the\nkernel for a given process, load the profile so that any \"r\" flags are processed as \"mr\".\n",
                    "flag": "-X",
                    "long": "--readimpliesX"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-k, --show-cache",
                    "content": "Report the cache processing (hit/miss details) when loading or saving cached profiles.\n",
                    "flag": "-k",
                    "long": "--show-cache"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-K, --skip-cache",
                    "content": "Perform no caching at all: disables -W, implies -T.\n",
                    "flag": "-K",
                    "long": "--skip-cache"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-T, --skip-read-cache",
                    "content": "By  default,  if  a profile's cache is found in the location specified by --cache-loc and\nthe timestamp is newer than the profile, it will be loaded from the  cache.  This  option\ndisables this cache loading behavior.\n",
                    "flag": "-T",
                    "long": "--skip-read-cache"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-W, --write-cache",
                    "content": "Write  out  cached profiles to the location specified in --cache-loc.  Off by default. In\ncases where abstractions have been changed, and the parser is running  with  \"--replace\",\nit may make sense to also use \"--skip-read-cache\" with the \"--write-cache\" option.\n",
                    "flag": "-W",
                    "long": "--write-cache"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--skip-bad-cache",
                    "content": "Skip updating the cache if it contains cached profiles in a bad or inconsistent state\n",
                    "long": "--skip-bad-cache"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-L, --cache-loc",
                    "content": "Set the location(s) of the cache directory. This option can accept a comma separated list\nof  directories,  which  will  be  searched  in order to find a matching cache. The first\nmatching cache file found is used even if a directory  later  in  the  search  order  may\ncontain a newer cache file.\n\nIf  multiple  directories  are  specified and --write-cache has been specified then cache\nwrites will be made to the first directory in the list, all  other  directories  will  be\ntreated as read only.\n\nIf  a cache directory name needs to have a comma as part of the name, it can be specified\nby using a backslash to escape the comma character in the directory name.\n\nIf not specified the cache location defaults to /var/cache/apparmor\n",
                    "flag": "-L",
                    "long": "--cache-loc"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--print-cache-dir",
                    "content": "Print the cache directory location. This path will be a  subdirectory  of  the  directory\nspecified  by  --cache-loc.  The  subdirectory  used  will  be influenced by the features\navailable in the  currently  running  kernel  or  by  the  features  specified  with  the\n--match-string or --features-file options.\n",
                    "long": "--print-cache-dir"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-Q, --skip-kernel-load",
                    "content": "Perform  all  actions  except  the  actual loading of a profile into the kernel.  This is\nuseful for testing profile generation,  caching,  etc,  without  making  changes  to  the\nrunning kernel profiles.\n\nThis  also  removes  the need for privilege to execute the commands that manage policy in\nthe kernel\n",
                    "flag": "-Q",
                    "long": "--skip-kernel-load"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-q, --quiet",
                    "content": "Do not report on the profiles as they are loaded, and not show warnings.\n",
                    "flag": "-q",
                    "long": "--quiet"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-v, --verbose",
                    "content": "Report on the profiles as they are loaded, and show warnings.\n\n--warn=n\nEnable various warnings during policy compilation. A single warn flag  can  be  specified\nper --warn option, but the --warn flag can be passed multiple times.\n\napparmorparser --warn=rule-not-enforced ...\n\nA specific warning can be disabled by prepending no- to the flag\n\napparmorparser --warn=no-rule-not-enforced ...\n\nUse --help=warn to see a full list of which warn flags are supported.\n",
                    "flag": "-v",
                    "long": "--verbose"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--Werror[=n]",
                    "content": "Convert  warnings  into  errors  during  policy  compilation. If the optional flag is not\nspecified all warnings become errors. If the optional flag is specified only the class of\nwarnings specified will become errors. A  single  flag  can  be  specified  per  --Werror\noption, but the --Werror flag can be passed multiple times.\n\napparmorparser --Werror=deprecated ...\n\nUse --help=warn or --help=Werror to see a full list of which warn flags are supported.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-d, --debug",
                    "content": "Given once, only checks the profiles to ensure syntactic correctness.  Given twice, dumps\nits interpretation of the profile for checking.\n\n-D n, --dump=n\nDebug  flag  for  dumping  various structures and passes of policy compilation.  A single\ndump flag can be specified per --dump option, but the dump flag can  be  passed  multiple\ntimes.  Note progress flags tend to also imply the matching stats flag.\n\napparmorparser --dump=dfa-stats --dump=trans-stats <file>\n\nUse --help=dump to see a full list of which dump flags are supported\n\n-j n, --jobs=n\nSet the number of jobs used to compile the specified policy. Where n can be\n\n0    - disable jobs and use the main process for all compilation\n#    - a specific number of jobs\nauto - the # of cpus in the in the system\nx#   - # * number of cpus\n\nEg.\n-j8     OR --jobs=8                   allows for 8 parallel jobs\n-jauto  OR --jobs=auto                sets the jobs to the # of cpus\n-jx4    OR --jobs=x4                  sets the jobs to # of cpus * 4\n-jx1   is equivalent to   -jauto\n\nThe  default  value  is the number of cpus in the system. Note that if jobs is a positive\ninteger number the --jobs-max parameter is automatically set to the same value.\n\n--max-jobs n\nWhen --jobs is set to a scaling value (ie. auto or xN) the specify  a  hard  cap  on  the\nvalue  that  can  be  specified  by  the  --jobs  flag.  It takes the same set of options\navailable to the --jobs option, and defaults to 8*cpus\n\n-O n, --optimize=n\nSet the optimization flags used by policy compilation.  A single optimization flag can be\ntoggled per -O option, but the optimize flag can be passed multiple times.   Turning  off\nsome phases of the optimization can make it so that policy can't complete compilation due\nto size constraints (it is entirely possible to create a dfa with millions of states that\nwill take days or longer to compile).\n\nNote:  The  parser  is  set  to  use a balanced default set of flags, that will result in\nreasonable compression but not take excessive amounts of time to complete.\n\nUse --help=optimize to see a full list of which optimization flags are supported.\n\n--abort-on-error Abort processing of profiles on the first error encountered, otherwise the\nparser will continue to try to compile other profiles if specified.\nNote: If an error is encountered while processing profiles  the  last  error  encountered\nwill be used to set the exit code.\n\n--skip-bad-cache-rebuild The default behavior of the parser is to check if a cached version\nof a profile exists and if it does it attempt to load it into the kernel. If that load is\nrejected, then the parser will attempt to rebuild the cache file, and load again.\nThis  option tells the parser to not attempt to rebuild the cache on failure, instead the\nparser continues on with processing the remaining profiles.\n\n--estimated-compile-size Adjust the internal parameter used to estimate how agressive the\nparser can be when compiling policy. This may include changes to how or when caches are\ndropped or how many compile units (jobs) are launched. The value should slightly larger than\nthe largest Resident Set Size (RSS) encountered for the type of policy being compiled.\nA value that is too small may result in  the  parser  exhausting  system  resources  when\ncompiling large policy. A value too large may slow policy compiles down.\n\nThe  value  specified may include a suffix of KB, MB, GB, to make it easier to adjust the\nsize.\n\nNote: config-file and command line options will override values chosen by tuning affected\nby the option.\n",
                    "flag": "-d",
                    "long": "--debug"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--config-file",
                    "content": "Specify the config file to use instead of /etc/apparmor/parser.conf. This option will  be\nprocessed early before regular options regardless of the order it is specified in.\n",
                    "long": "--config-file"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--print-config-file",
                    "content": "Print the config file location that will be used.\n",
                    "long": "--print-config-file"
                }
            ]
        },
        "CONFIG FILE": {
            "content": "An  optional config file /etc/apparmor/parser.conf can be used to specify the default options\nfor the parser, which then can be overridden using the command line options.\n\nThe config file ignores leading whitespace and treats lines that begin with  #  as  comments.\nConfig  options are specified one per line using the same format as the longform command line\noptions (without the preceding --).\n\nEg.\n#comment\n\noptimize=no-expr-tree\noptimize=compress-fast\n\nAs with the command line some options accumulate and others  override,  ie.  when  there  are\nconflicting versions of switch the last option is the one chosen.\n\nEg.\nOptimize=no-minimize\nOptimize=minimize\n\nwould result in Optimize=minimize being set.\n\nThe  Include, Dump, and Optimize options accululate except for the inversion option (no-X vs.\nX), and a couple options that work by setting/clearing multiple options (compress-small).  In\nthat case the option will override the flags it sets but will may accumulate with others.\n\nAll other options override previously set values.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "BUGS": {
            "content": "If you find any bugs, please report them at <https://gitlab.com/apparmor/apparmor/-/issues>.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "apparmor(7), apparmor.d(5), aachangehat(2), and <https://wiki.apparmor.net>.\n\nAppArmor 4.0.1                               2026-04-13                           APPARMORPARSER(8)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "apparmorparser - loads AppArmor profiles into the kernel",
    "flags": [
        {
            "flag": "-B",
            "long": "--binary",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Treat the profile files specified on the command line (or stdin if none specified) as binary cache files, produced with the -S or -o options, and load to the kernel as specified by -a, -r, and -R (implies -K and -T)."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-C",
            "long": "--Complain",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Force the profile to load in complain mode. -b n, --base n Set the base directory for resolving #include directives defined as relative paths. -I n, --Include n Add element n to the search path when resolving #include directives defined as an absolute paths. -f n, --apparmorfs n Set the location of the apparmor security filesystem (default is \"/sys/kernel/security/apparmor\"). --policy-features n Specify the feature set that the policy was developed under. This does not override feature ABI rules. --override-policy-abi n Specify the feature set that the policy was developed under and override any feature ABI rules that the policy may be using. --kernel-features n Specify the feature set of the kernel that the policy is being compiled for. If not specified this will be determined by the system's kernel. -M n, --features-file n Use the features file located at path \"n\" (default is /etc/apparmor.d/cache/.features). If the --cache-loc option is present, the \".features\" file in the specified cache directory is used. Note: this sets both the --kernel-features and --policy-features to be the same. -m n, --match-string n Only use match features \"n\". Note: this sets both the --kernel-features and --policy-features to be the same. -n n, --namespace-string n Force a profile to load in the namespace \"n\"."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-X",
            "long": "--readimpliesX",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "In the case of profiles that are loading on systems were READIMPLIESEXEC is set in the kernel for a given process, load the profile so that any \"r\" flags are processed as \"mr\"."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-k",
            "long": "--show-cache",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Report the cache processing (hit/miss details) when loading or saving cached profiles."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-K",
            "long": "--skip-cache",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Perform no caching at all: disables -W, implies -T."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-T",
            "long": "--skip-read-cache",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "By default, if a profile's cache is found in the location specified by --cache-loc and the timestamp is newer than the profile, it will be loaded from the cache. This option disables this cache loading behavior."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-W",
            "long": "--write-cache",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Write out cached profiles to the location specified in --cache-loc. Off by default. In cases where abstractions have been changed, and the parser is running with \"--replace\", it may make sense to also use \"--skip-read-cache\" with the \"--write-cache\" option."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--skip-bad-cache",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Skip updating the cache if it contains cached profiles in a bad or inconsistent state"
        },
        {
            "flag": "-L",
            "long": "--cache-loc",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Set the location(s) of the cache directory. This option can accept a comma separated list of directories, which will be searched in order to find a matching cache. The first matching cache file found is used even if a directory later in the search order may contain a newer cache file. If multiple directories are specified and --write-cache has been specified then cache writes will be made to the first directory in the list, all other directories will be treated as read only. If a cache directory name needs to have a comma as part of the name, it can be specified by using a backslash to escape the comma character in the directory name. If not specified the cache location defaults to /var/cache/apparmor"
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--print-cache-dir",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Print the cache directory location. This path will be a subdirectory of the directory specified by --cache-loc. The subdirectory used will be influenced by the features available in the currently running kernel or by the features specified with the --match-string or --features-file options."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-Q",
            "long": "--skip-kernel-load",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Perform all actions except the actual loading of a profile into the kernel. This is useful for testing profile generation, caching, etc, without making changes to the running kernel profiles. This also removes the need for privilege to execute the commands that manage policy in the kernel"
        },
        {
            "flag": "-q",
            "long": "--quiet",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Do not report on the profiles as they are loaded, and not show warnings."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-v",
            "long": "--verbose",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Report on the profiles as they are loaded, and show warnings. --warn=n Enable various warnings during policy compilation. A single warn flag can be specified per --warn option, but the --warn flag can be passed multiple times. apparmorparser --warn=rule-not-enforced ... A specific warning can be disabled by prepending no- to the flag apparmorparser --warn=no-rule-not-enforced ... Use --help=warn to see a full list of which warn flags are supported."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Convert warnings into errors during policy compilation. If the optional flag is not specified all warnings become errors. If the optional flag is specified only the class of warnings specified will become errors. A single flag can be specified per --Werror option, but the --Werror flag can be passed multiple times. apparmorparser --Werror=deprecated ... Use --help=warn or --help=Werror to see a full list of which warn flags are supported."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-d",
            "long": "--debug",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Given once, only checks the profiles to ensure syntactic correctness. Given twice, dumps its interpretation of the profile for checking. -D n, --dump=n Debug flag for dumping various structures and passes of policy compilation. A single dump flag can be specified per --dump option, but the dump flag can be passed multiple times. Note progress flags tend to also imply the matching stats flag. apparmorparser --dump=dfa-stats --dump=trans-stats <file> Use --help=dump to see a full list of which dump flags are supported -j n, --jobs=n Set the number of jobs used to compile the specified policy. Where n can be 0 - disable jobs and use the main process for all compilation # - a specific number of jobs auto - the # of cpus in the in the system x# - # * number of cpus Eg. -j8 OR --jobs=8 allows for 8 parallel jobs -jauto OR --jobs=auto sets the jobs to the # of cpus -jx4 OR --jobs=x4 sets the jobs to # of cpus * 4 -jx1 is equivalent to -jauto The default value is the number of cpus in the system. Note that if jobs is a positive integer number the --jobs-max parameter is automatically set to the same value. --max-jobs n When --jobs is set to a scaling value (ie. auto or xN) the specify a hard cap on the value that can be specified by the --jobs flag. It takes the same set of options available to the --jobs option, and defaults to 8*cpus -O n, --optimize=n Set the optimization flags used by policy compilation. A single optimization flag can be toggled per -O option, but the optimize flag can be passed multiple times. Turning off some phases of the optimization can make it so that policy can't complete compilation due to size constraints (it is entirely possible to create a dfa with millions of states that will take days or longer to compile). Note: The parser is set to use a balanced default set of flags, that will result in reasonable compression but not take excessive amounts of time to complete. Use --help=optimize to see a full list of which optimization flags are supported. --abort-on-error Abort processing of profiles on the first error encountered, otherwise the parser will continue to try to compile other profiles if specified. Note: If an error is encountered while processing profiles the last error encountered will be used to set the exit code. --skip-bad-cache-rebuild The default behavior of the parser is to check if a cached version of a profile exists and if it does it attempt to load it into the kernel. If that load is rejected, then the parser will attempt to rebuild the cache file, and load again. This option tells the parser to not attempt to rebuild the cache on failure, instead the parser continues on with processing the remaining profiles. --estimated-compile-size Adjust the internal parameter used to estimate how agressive the parser can be when compiling policy. This may include changes to how or when caches are dropped or how many compile units (jobs) are launched. The value should slightly larger than the largest Resident Set Size (RSS) encountered for the type of policy being compiled. A value that is too small may result in the parser exhausting system resources when compiling large policy. A value too large may slow policy compiles down. The value specified may include a suffix of KB, MB, GB, to make it easier to adjust the size. Note: config-file and command line options will override values chosen by tuning affected by the option."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--config-file",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Specify the config file to use instead of /etc/apparmor/parser.conf. This option will be processed early before regular options regardless of the order it is specified in."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--print-config-file",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Print the config file location that will be used."
        }
    ],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "apparmor",
            "section": "7",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/apparmor/7/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "apparmor.d",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/apparmor.d/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "aachangehat",
            "section": "2",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/aachangehat/2/json"
        }
    ]
}