{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "sos",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/sos/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-06-15T14:09:06Z",
    "synopsis": "sos component [options]",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "sos - A unified tool for collecting system logs and other debug information\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "sos component [options]\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "sos is a diagnostic data collection utility, used by system administrators, support represen‐\ntatives, and the like to assist in troubleshooting issues with a system or group of systems.\n\nThe most well known function is sos report.\n\nAn sos archive is typically requested by support organizations to collect baseline configura‐\ntion and system data from which to begin the troubleshooting process.\n\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "COMPONENTS": {
            "content": "sos  supports several subcommands or components. Each provides a different set of information\nfor the user. Supported components are as follows\n\n\nreport Report generates an archive of system information including  configuration  files  and\ncommand  output. Information included in the report is based upon plugins that are ac‐\ntivated automatically when certain criteria, such as installed packages,  files,  ser‐\nvices, or system architecture is detected.\n\nSee sos report --help and man sos-report for more information.\n\nMay also be invoked via the alias rep.\n\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "collect",
                    "content": "Collect  is  used to capture reports on multiple systems simultaneously. These systems\ncan either be defined by the user at the command line  and/or  defined  by  clustering\nsoftware  that exists either on the local system or on a \"primary\" system that is able\nto inform about other nodes in the cluster.\n\nWhen running collect, sos report will be run on the remote nodes, and then the result‐\ning  archives will be copied from those nodes to the local system running sos collect.\nArchives are then removed from the remote systems.\n\nSee sos collect --help and man sos-collect for more information.\n\nMay also be invoked via the alias sos collector or the deprecated command  sos-collec‐‐\ntor.\n\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "clean|cleaner|mask",
                    "content": "This subcommand takes input of either 1) an sos report tarball, 2) a collection of sos\nreport tarballs such as from collect, or 3) the unpackaged directory of an sos  report\nand  obfuscates  potentially  sensitive  system information that is not covered by the\nstandard postprocessing of sos report.\n\nSuch data includes IP addresses, networks, MAC addresses, and more. Data obfuscated by\nthis  command will remain consistent throughout the report and across reports provided\nin the same invocation. Additionally, care is taken to maintain network topology rela‐\ntionships between matched data items.\n\nSee  sos clean --help and man sos-clean for more information.\n\nMay  be  invoked  via  either  sos  clean,  sos cleaner, sos mask, or via the --clean,\n--cleaner or  --mask options for report and collect.\n\n\nhelp   This subcommand is used to retrieve more detailed information on the various SoS  com‐\nmands  and  components  than  is directly available in either other manpages or --help\noutput.\n\nSee  sos help --help and  man sos-help for more information.\n\n\nupload This subcommand uploads an input file to either a distribution-defined or  a  user-de‐\nfined  target. The file can be an SOS archive or any other type of file, such as a vm‐\ncore or log file.\n\nSee  sos upload --help and  man sos-upload for more information.\n\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "GLOBAL OPTIONS": {
            "content": "sos components provide their own set of options, however the following are  available  to  be\nset across all components.\n\n--batch Do not prompt interactively, user will not be prompted for any data\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "--encrypt",
                    "content": "Encrypt  the  resulting  archive, and determine the method by which that encryption is\ndone by either a user prompt or environment variables.\n\nWhen run with --batch, using this option will cause sos to look for either the  SOSEN‐‐\nCRYPTKEY  or SOSENCRYPTPASS environment variables. If set, this will implicitly enable\nthe --encrypt-key or --encrypt-pass options, respectively, to the values  set  by  the\nenvironment  variable.  This enables the use of these options without directly setting\nthose options in a config file or command line string. Note that use of an  encryption\nkey has precedence over a passphrase.\n\nOtherwise, using this option will cause sos to prompt the user to choose the method of\nencryption to use. Choices will be [P]assphrase, [K]ey, [E]nv vars,  or  [N]o  encryp‐\ntion.   If  passphrase or key the user will then be prompted for the respective value,\nenv vars will cause sos to source the information in  the  manner  stated  above,  and\nchoosing no encryption will disable encryption.\n\nSee the sections on --encrypt-key and --encrypt-pass below for more information.\n",
                    "long": "--encrypt"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--encrypt-key KEY",
                    "content": "Encrypts  the resulting archive that sos report produces using GPG. KEY must be an ex‐\nisting key in the user's keyring as GPG does not allow for keyfiles.  KEY can  be  any\nvalue accepted by gpg's 'recipient' option.\n\nNote  that  the  user  running  sos report must match the user owning the keyring from\nwhich keys will be obtained. In particular this means that if sudo is used to run  sos\nreport,  the keyring must also be set up using sudo (or direct shell access to the ac‐\ncount).\n\nUsers should be aware that encrypting the final archive will result in sos using  dou‐\nble  the  amount  of temporary disk space - the encrypted archive must be written as a\nseparate, rather than replacement, file within the temp directory that sos writes  the\narchive to. However, since the encrypted archive will be the same size as the original\narchive, there is no additional space consumption once the temporary directory is  re‐\nmoved at the end of execution.\n\nThis  means that only the encrypted archive is present on disk after sos finishes run‐\nning.\n\nIf encryption fails for any reason, the original unencrypted archive is preserved  in‐\nstead.\n",
                    "long": "--encrypt-key",
                    "arg": "KEY"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--encrypt-pass PASS",
                    "content": "The  same  as --encrypt-key, but use the provided PASS for symmetric encryption rather\nthan key-pair encryption.\n",
                    "long": "--encrypt-pass",
                    "arg": "PASS"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--config-file CONFIG",
                    "content": "Specify alternate configuration file.\n",
                    "long": "--config-file",
                    "arg": "CONFIG"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-s, --sysroot SYSROOT",
                    "content": "Specify an alternate root file system path.\n",
                    "flag": "-s",
                    "long": "--sysroot",
                    "arg": "SYSROOT"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--tmp-dir DIRECTORY",
                    "content": "Specify alternate temporary directory to copy data during execution.\n",
                    "long": "--tmp-dir",
                    "arg": "DIRECTORY"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--threads THREADS",
                    "content": "Specify the number of threads sos report will use for concurrency. Defaults to 4.\n",
                    "long": "--threads",
                    "arg": "THREADS"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-v, --verbose",
                    "content": "Increase logging verbosity. May be specified multiple times to enable  additional  de‐\nbugging messages.\n\nThe following table summarizes the effects of different verbosity levels:\n\n1 (-v)   :  Enable debug messages for sos.log. Show individual plugins starting.\n2 (-vv)  :  Also print debug messages to console.\n3 (-vvv) :  Enable debug messages for archive file operations. Note this will dra‐\nmatically\nincrease the amount of logging.\n\n",
                    "flag": "-v",
                    "long": "--verbose"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-q, --quiet",
                    "content": "Only log fatal errors to stderr.\n",
                    "flag": "-q",
                    "long": "--quiet"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-z, --compression-type {auto|xz|gzip}",
                    "content": "Compression type to use when compression the final archive output\n\n--help Display usage message.\n",
                    "flag": "-z",
                    "long": "--compression-type"
                }
            ]
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "sos.conf(5)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "MAINTAINER": {
            "content": "Maintained on GitHub at https://github.com/sosreport/sos\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "AUTHORS & CONTRIBUTORS",
                    "content": "See AUTHORS file in the package documentation.\n\n\n\nApril 2020                                       sos(1)"
                }
            ]
        }
    },
    "summary": "sos - A unified tool for collecting system logs and other debug information",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "sos.conf",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/sos.conf/5/json"
        }
    ]
}