2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
"-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6 <refentry id=
"systemd.timer" xmlns:
xi=
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
8 <title>systemd.timer
</title>
9 <productname>systemd
</productname>
13 <refentrytitle>systemd.timer
</refentrytitle>
14 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
18 <refname>systemd.timer
</refname>
19 <refpurpose>Timer unit configuration
</refpurpose>
23 <para><filename><replaceable>timer
</replaceable>.timer
</filename></para>
27 <title>Description
</title>
29 <para>A unit configuration file whose name ends in
30 <literal>.timer
</literal> encodes information about a timer
31 controlled and supervised by systemd, for timer-based
34 <para>This man page lists the configuration options specific to
36 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
37 for the common options of all unit configuration files. The common
38 configuration items are configured in the generic [Unit] and
39 [Install] sections. The timer specific configuration options are
40 configured in the [Timer] section.
</para>
42 <para>For each timer file, a matching unit file must exist,
43 describing the unit to activate when the timer elapses. By
44 default, a service by the same name as the timer (except for the
45 suffix) is activated. Example: a timer file
46 <filename>foo.timer
</filename> activates a matching service
47 <filename>foo.service
</filename>. The unit to activate may be
48 controlled by
<varname>Unit=
</varname> (see below).
</para>
50 <para>Note that in case the unit to activate is already active at the time the timer elapses it is not restarted,
51 but simply left running. There is no concept of spawning new service instances in this case. Due to this, services
52 with
<varname>RemainAfterExit=
</varname> set (which stay around continuously even after the service's main process
53 exited) are usually not suitable for activation via repetitive timers, as they will only be activated once, and
54 then stay around forever.
</para>
58 <title>Automatic Dependencies
</title>
61 <title>Implicit Dependencies
</title>
63 <para>The following dependencies are implicitly added:
</para>
66 <listitem><para>Timer units automatically gain a
<varname>Before=
</varname>
67 dependency on the service they are supposed to activate.
</para></listitem>
72 <title>Default Dependencies
</title>
74 <para>The following dependencies are added unless
<varname>DefaultDependencies=no
</varname> is set:
</para>
77 <listitem><para>Timer units will automatically have dependencies of type
<varname>Requires=
</varname> and
78 <varname>After=
</varname> on
<filename>sysinit.target
</filename>, a dependency of type
<varname>Before=
</varname>
79 on
<filename>timers.target
</filename>, as well as
<varname>Conflicts=
</varname> and
<varname>Before=
</varname> on
80 <filename>shutdown.target
</filename> to ensure that they are stopped cleanly prior to system shutdown. Only timer
81 units involved with early boot or late system shutdown should disable the
82 <varname>DefaultDependencies=
</varname> option.
</para></listitem>
84 <listitem><para>Timer units with at least one
<varname>OnCalendar=
</varname> directive acquire a pair
85 of additional
<varname>After=
</varname> dependencies on
<filename>time-set.target
</filename> and
86 <filename>time-sync.target
</filename>, in order to avoid being started before the system clock has
87 been correctly set. See
88 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
89 for details on these two targets.
</para></listitem>
95 <title>Options
</title>
97 <para>Timer unit files may include [Unit] and [Install] sections, which are described in
98 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
101 <para>Timer unit files must include a [Timer] section, which carries
102 information about the timer it defines. The options specific to
103 the [Timer] section of timer units are the following:
</para>
105 <variablelist class='unit-directives'
>
107 <term><varname>OnActiveSec=
</varname></term>
108 <term><varname>OnBootSec=
</varname></term>
109 <term><varname>OnStartupSec=
</varname></term>
110 <term><varname>OnUnitActiveSec=
</varname></term>
111 <term><varname>OnUnitInactiveSec=
</varname></term>
113 <listitem><para>Defines monotonic timers relative to different
114 starting points:
</para>
117 <title>Settings and their starting points
</title>
122 <entry>Setting
</entry>
123 <entry>Meaning
</entry>
128 <entry><varname>OnActiveSec=
</varname></entry>
129 <entry>Defines a timer relative to the moment the timer unit itself is activated.
</entry>
132 <entry><varname>OnBootSec=
</varname></entry>
133 <entry>Defines a timer relative to when the machine was booted up. In containers, for the system manager instance, this is mapped to
<varname>OnStartupSec=
</varname>, making both equivalent.
</entry>
136 <entry><varname>OnStartupSec=
</varname></entry>
137 <entry>Defines a timer relative to when the service manager was first started. For system timer units this is very similar to
<varname>OnBootSec=
</varname> as the system service manager is generally started very early at boot. It's primarily useful when configured in units running in the per-user service manager, as the user service manager is generally started on first login only, not already during boot.
</entry>
140 <entry><varname>OnUnitActiveSec=
</varname></entry>
141 <entry>Defines a timer relative to when the unit the timer unit is activating was last activated.
</entry>
144 <entry><varname>OnUnitInactiveSec=
</varname></entry>
145 <entry>Defines a timer relative to when the unit the timer unit is activating was last deactivated.
</entry>
151 <para>Multiple directives may be combined of the same and of different types, in which case the timer
152 unit will trigger whenever any of the specified timer expressions elapse. For example, by combining
153 <varname>OnBootSec=
</varname> and
<varname>OnUnitActiveSec=
</varname>, it is possible to define a
154 timer that elapses in regular intervals and activates a specific service each time. Moreover, both
155 monotonic time expressions and
<varname>OnCalendar=
</varname> calendar expressions may be combined in
156 the same timer unit.
</para>
158 <para>The arguments to the directives are time spans
159 configured in seconds. Example:
"OnBootSec=50" means
50s after
160 boot-up. The argument may also include time units. Example:
161 "OnBootSec=5h 30min" means
5 hours and
30 minutes after
162 boot-up. For details about the syntax of time spans, see
163 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
165 <para>If a timer configured with
<varname>OnBootSec=
</varname>
166 or
<varname>OnStartupSec=
</varname> is already in the past
167 when the timer unit is activated, it will immediately elapse
168 and the configured unit is started. This is not the case for
169 timers defined in the other directives.
</para>
171 <para>These are monotonic timers, independent of wall-clock time and timezones. If the computer is
172 temporarily suspended, the monotonic clock generally pauses, too. Note that if
173 <varname>WakeSystem=
</varname> is used, a different monotonic clock is selected that continues to
174 advance while the system is suspended and thus can be used as the trigger to resume the
177 <para>If the empty string is assigned to any of these options, the list of timers is reset (both
178 monotonic timers and
<varname>OnCalendar=
</varname> timers, see below), and all prior assignments
179 will have no effect.
</para>
181 <para>Note that timers do not necessarily expire at the
182 precise time configured with these settings, as they are
183 subject to the
<varname>AccuracySec=
</varname> setting
184 below.
</para></listitem>
188 <term><varname>OnCalendar=
</varname></term>
190 <listitem><para>Defines realtime (i.e. wallclock) timers with calendar event expressions. See
191 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
192 more information on the syntax of calendar event expressions. Otherwise, the semantics are similar to
193 <varname>OnActiveSec=
</varname> and related settings.
</para>
195 <para>Note that timers do not necessarily expire at the precise time configured with this setting, as
196 it is subject to the
<varname>AccuracySec=
</varname> setting below.
</para>
198 <para>May be specified more than once, in which case the timer unit will trigger whenever any of the
199 specified expressions elapse. Moreover calendar timers and monotonic timers (see above) may be
200 combined within the same timer unit.
</para>
202 <para>If the empty string is assigned to any of these options, the list of timers is reset (both
203 <varname>OnCalendar=
</varname> timers and monotonic timers, see above), and all prior assignments
204 will have no effect.
</para>
206 <para>Note that calendar timers might be triggered at unexpected times if the system's realtime clock
207 is not set correctly. Specifically, on systems that lack a battery-buffered Realtime Clock (RTC) it
208 might be wise to enable
<filename>systemd-time-wait-sync.service
</filename> to ensure the clock is
209 adjusted to a network time source
<emphasis>before
</emphasis> the timer event is set up. Timer units
210 with at least one
<varname>OnCalendar=
</varname> expression are automatically ordered after
211 <filename>time-sync.target
</filename>, which
<filename>systemd-time-wait-sync.service
</filename> is
212 ordered before.
</para></listitem>
216 <term><varname>AccuracySec=
</varname></term>
218 <listitem><para>Specify the accuracy the timer shall elapse
219 with. Defaults to
1min. The timer is scheduled to elapse
220 within a time window starting with the time specified in
221 <varname>OnCalendar=
</varname>,
222 <varname>OnActiveSec=
</varname>,
223 <varname>OnBootSec=
</varname>,
224 <varname>OnStartupSec=
</varname>,
225 <varname>OnUnitActiveSec=
</varname> or
226 <varname>OnUnitInactiveSec=
</varname> and ending the time
227 configured with
<varname>AccuracySec=
</varname> later. Within
228 this time window, the expiry time will be placed at a
229 host-specific, randomized, but stable position that is
230 synchronized between all local timer units. This is done in
231 order to optimize power consumption to suppress unnecessary
232 CPU wake-ups. To get best accuracy, set this option to
233 1us. Note that the timer is still subject to the timer slack
235 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>'s
236 <varname>TimerSlackNSec=
</varname> setting. See
237 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>prctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
238 for details. To optimize power consumption, make sure to set
239 this value as high as possible and as low as
242 <para>Note that this setting is primarily a power saving option that allows coalescing CPU
243 wake-ups. It should not be confused with
<varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname> (see below) which
244 adds a random value to the time the timer shall elapse next and whose purpose is the opposite: to
245 stretch elapsing of timer events over a longer period to reduce workload spikes. For further details
246 and explanations and how both settings play together, see below.
</para></listitem>
250 <term><varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname></term>
252 <listitem><para>Delay the timer by a randomly selected, evenly distributed amount of time between
0
253 and the specified time value. Defaults to
0, indicating that no randomized delay shall be applied.
254 Each timer unit will determine this delay randomly before each iteration, and the delay will simply
255 be added on top of the next determined elapsing time, unless modified with
256 <varname>FixedRandomDelay=
</varname>, see below.
</para>
258 <para>This setting is useful to stretch dispatching of similarly configured timer events over a
259 certain time interval, to prevent them from firing all at the same time, possibly resulting in
260 resource congestion.
</para>
262 <para>Note the relation to
<varname>AccuracySec=
</varname> above: the latter allows the service
263 manager to coalesce timer events within a specified time range in order to minimize wakeups, while
264 this setting does the opposite: it stretches timer events over an interval, to make it unlikely that
265 they fire simultaneously. If
<varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname> and
266 <varname>AccuracySec=
</varname> are used in conjunction, first the randomized delay is added, and
267 then the result is possibly further shifted to coalesce it with other timer events happening on the
268 system. As mentioned above
<varname>AccuracySec=
</varname> defaults to
1 minute and
269 <varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname> to
0, thus encouraging coalescing of timer events. In order to
270 optimally stretch timer events over a certain range of time, set
271 <varname>AccuracySec=
1us
</varname> and
<varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname> to some higher value.
276 <term><varname>FixedRandomDelay=
</varname></term>
278 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. When enabled, the randomized offset specified by
279 <varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname> is reused for all firings of the same timer. For a given timer
280 unit, the offset depends on the machine ID, user identifier and timer name, which means that it is
281 stable between restarts of the manager. This effectively creates a fixed offset for an individual
282 timer, reducing the jitter in firings of this timer, while still avoiding firing at the same time as
283 other similarly configured timers.
</para>
285 <para>This setting has no effect if
<varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname> is set to
0. Defaults to
286 <option>false
</option>.
</para></listitem>
290 <term><varname>OnClockChange=
</varname></term>
291 <term><varname>OnTimezoneChange=
</varname></term>
293 <listitem><para>These options take boolean arguments. When true, the service unit will be triggered
294 when the system clock (
<constant>CLOCK_REALTIME
</constant>) jumps relative to the monotonic clock
295 (
<constant>CLOCK_MONOTONIC
</constant>), or when the local system timezone is modified. These options
296 can be used alone or in combination with other timer expressions (see above) within the same timer
297 unit. These options default to
<option>false
</option>.
</para></listitem>
301 <term><varname>Unit=
</varname></term>
303 <listitem><para>The unit to activate when this timer elapses.
304 The argument is a unit name, whose suffix is not
305 <literal>.timer
</literal>. If not specified, this value
306 defaults to a service that has the same name as the timer
307 unit, except for the suffix. (See above.) It is recommended
308 that the unit name that is activated and the unit name of the
309 timer unit are named identically, except for the
310 suffix.
</para></listitem>
314 <term><varname>Persistent=
</varname></term>
316 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true, the time when the service unit was last triggered
317 is stored on disk. When the timer is activated, the service unit is triggered immediately if it
318 would have been triggered at least once during the time when the timer was inactive. Such triggering
319 is nonetheless subject to the delay imposed by
<varname>RandomizedDelaySec=
</varname>.
320 This is useful to catch up on missed runs of the service when the system was powered down. Note that
321 this setting only has an effect on timers configured with
<varname>OnCalendar=
</varname>. Defaults to
322 <option>false
</option>.
</para>
324 <para>Use
<command>systemctl clean --what=state …
</command> on the timer unit to remove the timestamp
325 file maintained by this option from disk. In particular, use this command before uninstalling a timer
327 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
328 details.
</para></listitem>
332 <term><varname>WakeSystem=
</varname></term>
334 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true, an elapsing timer will cause the system to resume
335 from suspend, should it be suspended and if the system supports this. Note that this option will only
336 make sure the system resumes on the appropriate times, it will not take care of suspending it again
337 after any work that is to be done is finished. Defaults to
338 <option>false
</option>.
</para>
340 <para>Note that this functionality requires privileges and is thus generally only available in the
341 system service manager.
</para>
343 <para>Note that behaviour of monotonic clock timers (as configured with
344 <varname>OnActiveSec=
</varname>,
<varname>OnBootSec=
</varname>,
<varname>OnStartupSec=
</varname>,
345 <varname>OnUnitActiveSec=
</varname>,
<varname>OnUnitInactiveSec=
</varname>, see above) is altered
346 depending on this option. If false, a monotonic clock is used that is paused during system suspend
347 (
<constant>CLOCK_MONOTONIC
</constant>), if true a different monotonic clock is used that continues
348 advancing during system suspend (
<constant>CLOCK_BOOTTIME
</constant>), see
349 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>clock_getres
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
350 details.
</para></listitem>
354 <term><varname>RemainAfterElapse=
</varname></term>
356 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true, a timer will stay loaded, and its state remains
357 queryable even after it elapsed and the associated unit (as configured with
<varname>Unit=
</varname>,
358 see above) deactivated again. If false, an elapsed timer unit that cannot elapse anymore is unloaded
359 once its associated unit deactivated again. Turning this off is particularly useful for transient
360 timer units. Note that this setting has an effect when repeatedly starting a timer unit: if
361 <varname>RemainAfterElapse=
</varname> is on, starting the timer a second time has no effect. However,
362 if
<varname>RemainAfterElapse=
</varname> is off and the timer unit was already unloaded, it can be
363 started again, and thus the service can be triggered multiple times. Defaults to
364 <option>true
</option>.
</para></listitem>
368 <xi:include href=
"systemd.service.xml" xpointer=
"shared-unit-options" />
372 <title>See Also
</title>
373 <para>Environment variables with details on the trigger will be set for triggered units. See the
374 <literal>Environment Variables Set or Propagated by the Service Manager
</literal> section in
375 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
376 for more details.
</para>
378 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
379 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
380 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
381 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
382 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
383 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
384 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
385 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>prctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>