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1 <?xml version='1.0'?>
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 -->
5
6 <refentry id="systemd.service">
7 <refentryinfo>
8 <title>systemd.service</title>
9 <productname>systemd</productname>
10 </refentryinfo>
11
12 <refmeta>
13 <refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle>
14 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
15 </refmeta>
16
17 <refnamediv>
18 <refname>systemd.service</refname>
19 <refpurpose>Service unit configuration</refpurpose>
20 </refnamediv>
21
22 <refsynopsisdiv>
23 <para><filename><replaceable>service</replaceable>.service</filename></para>
24 </refsynopsisdiv>
25
26 <refsect1>
27 <title>Description</title>
28
29 <para>A unit configuration file whose name ends in
30 <literal>.service</literal> encodes information about a process
31 controlled and supervised by systemd.</para>
32
33 <para>This man page lists the configuration options specific to
34 this unit type. See
35 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
36 for the common options of all unit configuration files. The common
37 configuration items are configured in the generic
38 [Unit] and [Install]
39 sections. The service specific configuration options are
40 configured in the [Service] section.</para>
41
42 <para>Additional options are listed in
43 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
44 which define the execution environment the commands are executed
45 in, and in
46 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
47 which define the way the processes of the service are terminated,
48 and in
49 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
50 which configure resource control settings for the processes of the
51 service.</para>
52
53 <para>If SysV init compat is enabled, systemd automatically creates service units that wrap SysV init
54 scripts (the service name is the same as the name of the script, with a <literal>.service</literal>
55 suffix added); see
56 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-sysv-generator</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
57 </para>
58
59 <para>The <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-run</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
60 command allows creating <filename>.service</filename> and <filename>.scope</filename> units dynamically
61 and transiently from the command line.</para>
62 </refsect1>
63
64 <refsect1>
65 <title>Service Templates</title>
66
67 <para>It is possible for <command>systemd</command> services to take a single argument via the
68 <literal><replaceable>service</replaceable>@<replaceable>argument</replaceable>.service</literal>
69 syntax. Such services are called "instantiated" services, while the unit definition without the
70 <replaceable>argument</replaceable> parameter is called a "template". An example could be a
71 <filename>dhcpcd@.service</filename> service template which takes a network interface as a
72 parameter to form an instantiated service. Within the service file, this parameter or "instance
73 name" can be accessed with %-specifiers. See
74 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
75 for details.</para>
76 </refsect1>
77
78 <refsect1>
79 <title>Automatic Dependencies</title>
80
81 <refsect2>
82 <title>Implicit Dependencies</title>
83
84 <para>The following dependencies are implicitly added:</para>
85
86 <itemizedlist>
87 <listitem><para>Services with <varname>Type=dbus</varname> set automatically
88 acquire dependencies of type <varname>Requires=</varname> and
89 <varname>After=</varname> on
90 <filename>dbus.socket</filename>.</para></listitem>
91
92 <listitem><para>Socket activated services are automatically ordered after
93 their activating <filename>.socket</filename> units via an
94 automatic <varname>After=</varname> dependency.
95 Services also pull in all <filename>.socket</filename> units
96 listed in <varname>Sockets=</varname> via automatic
97 <varname>Wants=</varname> and <varname>After=</varname> dependencies.</para></listitem>
98 </itemizedlist>
99
100 <para>Additional implicit dependencies may be added as result of
101 execution and resource control parameters as documented in
102 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
103 and
104 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
105 </refsect2>
106
107 <refsect2>
108 <title>Default Dependencies</title>
109
110 <para>The following dependencies are added unless <varname>DefaultDependencies=no</varname> is set:</para>
111
112 <itemizedlist>
113 <listitem><para>Service units will have dependencies of type <varname>Requires=</varname> and
114 <varname>After=</varname> on <filename>sysinit.target</filename>, a dependency of type <varname>After=</varname> on
115 <filename>basic.target</filename> as well as dependencies of type <varname>Conflicts=</varname> and
116 <varname>Before=</varname> on <filename>shutdown.target</filename>. These ensure that normal service units pull in
117 basic system initialization, and are terminated cleanly prior to system shutdown. Only services involved with early
118 boot or late system shutdown should disable this option.</para></listitem>
119
120 <listitem><para>Instanced service units (i.e. service units with an <literal>@</literal> in their name) are assigned by
121 default a per-template slice unit (see
122 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.slice</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>), named after the
123 template unit, containing all instances of the specific template. This slice is normally stopped at shutdown,
124 together with all template instances. If that is not desired, set <varname>DefaultDependencies=no</varname> in the
125 template unit, and either define your own per-template slice unit file that also sets
126 <varname>DefaultDependencies=no</varname>, or set <varname>Slice=system.slice</varname> (or another suitable slice)
127 in the template unit. Also see
128 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
129 </para></listitem>
130 </itemizedlist>
131 </refsect2>
132 </refsect1>
133
134 <refsect1>
135 <title>Options</title>
136
137 <para>Service unit files may include [Unit] and [Install] sections, which are described in
138 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
139 </para>
140
141 <para>Service unit files must include a [Service]
142 section, which carries information about the service and the
143 process it supervises. A number of options that may be used in
144 this section are shared with other unit types. These options are
145 documented in
146 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
147 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
148 and
149 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
150 The options specific to the [Service] section
151 of service units are the following:</para>
152
153 <variablelist class='unit-directives'>
154 <varlistentry>
155 <term><varname>Type=</varname></term>
156
157 <listitem>
158 <para>Configures the process start-up type for this service unit. One of <option>simple</option>,
159 <option>exec</option>, <option>forking</option>, <option>oneshot</option>, <option>dbus</option>,
160 <option>notify</option> or <option>idle</option>:</para>
161
162 <itemizedlist>
163 <listitem><para>If set to <option>simple</option> (the default if <varname>ExecStart=</varname> is
164 specified but neither <varname>Type=</varname> nor <varname>BusName=</varname> are), the service manager
165 will consider the unit started immediately after the main service process has been forked off. It is
166 expected that the process configured with <varname>ExecStart=</varname> is the main process of the
167 service. In this mode, if the process offers functionality to other processes on the system, its
168 communication channels should be installed before the service is started up (e.g. sockets set up by
169 systemd, via socket activation), as the service manager will immediately proceed starting follow-up units,
170 right after creating the main service process, and before executing the service's binary. Note that this
171 means <command>systemctl start</command> command lines for <option>simple</option> services will report
172 success even if the service's binary cannot be invoked successfully (for example because the selected
173 <varname>User=</varname> doesn't exist, or the service binary is missing).</para></listitem>
174
175 <listitem><para>The <option>exec</option> type is similar to <option>simple</option>, but the service
176 manager will consider the unit started immediately after the main service binary has been executed. The service
177 manager will delay starting of follow-up units until that point. (Or in other words:
178 <option>simple</option> proceeds with further jobs right after <function>fork()</function> returns, while
179 <option>exec</option> will not proceed before both <function>fork()</function> and
180 <function>execve()</function> in the service process succeeded.) Note that this means <command>systemctl
181 start</command> command lines for <option>exec</option> services will report failure when the service's
182 binary cannot be invoked successfully (for example because the selected <varname>User=</varname> doesn't
183 exist, or the service binary is missing).</para></listitem>
184
185 <listitem><para>If set to <option>forking</option>, it is expected that the process configured with
186 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> will call <function>fork()</function> as part of its start-up. The parent
187 process is expected to exit when start-up is complete and all communication channels are set up. The child
188 continues to run as the main service process, and the service manager will consider the unit started when
189 the parent process exits. This is the behavior of traditional UNIX services. If this setting is used, it is
190 recommended to also use the <varname>PIDFile=</varname> option, so that systemd can reliably identify the
191 main process of the service. systemd will proceed with starting follow-up units as soon as the parent
192 process exits.</para></listitem>
193
194 <listitem><para>Behavior of <option>oneshot</option> is similar to <option>simple</option>;
195 however, the service manager will consider the unit up after the main process exits. It will then
196 start follow-up units. <varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname> is particularly useful for this type
197 of service. <varname>Type=</varname><option>oneshot</option> is the implied default if neither
198 <varname>Type=</varname> nor <varname>ExecStart=</varname> are specified. Note that if this
199 option is used without <varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname> the service will never enter
200 <literal>active</literal> unit state, but directly transition from <literal>activating</literal>
201 to <literal>deactivating</literal> or <literal>dead</literal> since no process is configured that
202 shall run continuously. In particular this means that after a service of this type ran (and which
203 has <varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname> not set) it will not show up as started afterwards, but
204 as dead.</para></listitem>
205
206 <listitem><para>Behavior of <option>dbus</option> is similar to <option>simple</option>; however,
207 it is expected that the service acquires a name on the D-Bus bus, as configured by
208 <varname>BusName=</varname>. systemd will proceed with starting follow-up units after the D-Bus
209 bus name has been acquired. Service units with this option configured implicitly gain
210 dependencies on the <filename>dbus.socket</filename> unit. This type is the default if
211 <varname>BusName=</varname> is specified. A service unit of this type is considered to be in the
212 activating state until the specified bus name is acquired. It is considered activated while the
213 bus name is taken. Once the bus name is released the service is considered being no longer
214 functional which has the effect that the service manager attempts to terminate any remaining
215 processes belonging to the service. Services that drop their bus name as part of their shutdown
216 logic thus should be prepared to receive a <constant>SIGTERM</constant> (or whichever signal is
217 configured in <varname>KillSignal=</varname>) as result.</para></listitem>
218
219 <listitem><para>Behavior of <option>notify</option> is similar to <option>exec</option>; however, it is
220 expected that the service sends a notification message via
221 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry> or an
222 equivalent call when it has finished starting up. systemd will proceed with starting follow-up units after
223 this notification message has been sent. If this option is used, <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> (see
224 below) should be set to open access to the notification socket provided by systemd. If
225 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> is missing or set to <option>none</option>, it will be forcibly set to
226 <option>main</option>.</para></listitem>
227
228 <listitem><para>Behavior of <option>idle</option> is very similar to <option>simple</option>; however,
229 actual execution of the service program is delayed until all active jobs are dispatched. This may be used
230 to avoid interleaving of output of shell services with the status output on the console. Note that this
231 type is useful only to improve console output, it is not useful as a general unit ordering tool, and the
232 effect of this service type is subject to a 5s timeout, after which the service program is invoked
233 anyway.</para></listitem>
234 </itemizedlist>
235
236 <para>It is generally recommended to use <varname>Type=</varname><option>simple</option> for long-running
237 services whenever possible, as it is the simplest and fastest option. However, as this service type won't
238 propagate service start-up failures and doesn't allow ordering of other units against completion of
239 initialization of the service (which for example is useful if clients need to connect to the service through
240 some form of IPC, and the IPC channel is only established by the service itself — in contrast to doing this
241 ahead of time through socket or bus activation or similar), it might not be sufficient for many cases. If so,
242 <option>notify</option> or <option>dbus</option> (the latter only in case the service provides a D-Bus
243 interface) are the preferred options as they allow service program code to precisely schedule when to
244 consider the service started up successfully and when to proceed with follow-up units. The
245 <option>notify</option> service type requires explicit support in the service codebase (as
246 <function>sd_notify()</function> or an equivalent API needs to be invoked by the service at the appropriate
247 time) — if it's not supported, then <option>forking</option> is an alternative: it supports the traditional
248 UNIX service start-up protocol. Finally, <option>exec</option> might be an option for cases where it is
249 enough to ensure the service binary is invoked, and where the service binary itself executes no or little
250 initialization on its own (and its initialization is unlikely to fail). Note that using any type other than
251 <option>simple</option> possibly delays the boot process, as the service manager needs to wait for service
252 initialization to complete. It is hence recommended not to needlessly use any types other than
253 <option>simple</option>. (Also note it is generally not recommended to use <option>idle</option> or
254 <option>oneshot</option> for long-running services.)</para>
255 </listitem>
256 </varlistentry>
257
258 <varlistentry>
259 <term><varname>ExitType=</varname></term>
260
261 <listitem>
262 <para>Specifies when the manager should consider the service to be finished. One of <option>main</option> or
263 <option>cgroup</option>:</para>
264
265 <itemizedlist>
266 <listitem><para>If set to <option>main</option> (the default), the service manager
267 will consider the unit stopped when the main process, which is determined according to the
268 <varname>Type=</varname>, exits. Consequently, it cannot be used with
269 <varname>Type=</varname><option>oneshot</option>.</para></listitem>
270
271 <listitem><para>If set to <option>cgroup</option>, the service will be considered running as long as at
272 least one process in the cgroup has not exited.</para></listitem>
273 </itemizedlist>
274
275 <para>It is generally recommended to use <varname>ExitType=</varname><option>main</option> when a service has
276 a known forking model and a main process can reliably be determined. <varname>ExitType=</varname>
277 <option>cgroup</option> is meant for applications whose forking model is not known ahead of time and which
278 might not have a specific main process. It is well suited for transient or automatically generated services,
279 such as graphical applications inside of a desktop environment.</para>
280 </listitem>
281 </varlistentry>
282
283 <varlistentry>
284 <term><varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname></term>
285
286 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value that specifies whether
287 the service shall be considered active even when all its
288 processes exited. Defaults to <option>no</option>.</para>
289 </listitem>
290 </varlistentry>
291
292 <varlistentry>
293 <term><varname>GuessMainPID=</varname></term>
294
295 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value that specifies whether
296 systemd should try to guess the main PID of a service if it
297 cannot be determined reliably. This option is ignored unless
298 <option>Type=forking</option> is set and
299 <option>PIDFile=</option> is unset because for the other types
300 or with an explicitly configured PID file, the main PID is
301 always known. The guessing algorithm might come to incorrect
302 conclusions if a daemon consists of more than one process. If
303 the main PID cannot be determined, failure detection and
304 automatic restarting of a service will not work reliably.
305 Defaults to <option>yes</option>.</para>
306 </listitem>
307 </varlistentry>
308
309 <varlistentry>
310 <term><varname>PIDFile=</varname></term>
311
312 <listitem><para>Takes a path referring to the PID file of the service. Usage of this option is recommended for
313 services where <varname>Type=</varname> is set to <option>forking</option>. The path specified typically points
314 to a file below <filename>/run/</filename>. If a relative path is specified it is hence prefixed with
315 <filename>/run/</filename>. The service manager will read the PID of the main process of the service from this
316 file after start-up of the service. The service manager will not write to the file configured here, although it
317 will remove the file after the service has shut down if it still exists. The PID file does not need to be owned
318 by a privileged user, but if it is owned by an unprivileged user additional safety restrictions are enforced:
319 the file may not be a symlink to a file owned by a different user (neither directly nor indirectly), and the
320 PID file must refer to a process already belonging to the service.</para>
321
322 <para>Note that PID files should be avoided in modern projects. Use <option>Type=notify</option> or
323 <option>Type=simple</option> where possible, which does not require use of PID files to determine the
324 main process of a service and avoids needless forking.</para></listitem>
325 </varlistentry>
326
327 <varlistentry>
328 <term><varname>BusName=</varname></term>
329
330 <listitem><para>Takes a D-Bus destination name that this service shall use. This option is mandatory
331 for services where <varname>Type=</varname> is set to <option>dbus</option>. It is recommended to
332 always set this property if known to make it easy to map the service name to the D-Bus destination.
333 In particular, <command>systemctl service-log-level/service-log-target</command> verbs make use of
334 this.</para>
335 </listitem>
336 </varlistentry>
337
338 <varlistentry>
339 <term><varname>ExecStart=</varname></term>
340 <listitem><para>Commands with their arguments that are
341 executed when this service is started. The value is split into
342 zero or more command lines according to the rules described
343 below (see section "Command Lines" below).
344 </para>
345
346 <para>Unless <varname>Type=</varname> is <option>oneshot</option>, exactly one command must be given. When
347 <varname>Type=oneshot</varname> is used, zero or more commands may be specified. Commands may be specified by
348 providing multiple command lines in the same directive, or alternatively, this directive may be specified more
349 than once with the same effect. If the empty string is assigned to this option, the list of commands to start
350 is reset, prior assignments of this option will have no effect. If no <varname>ExecStart=</varname> is
351 specified, then the service must have <varname>RemainAfterExit=yes</varname> and at least one
352 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> line set. (Services lacking both <varname>ExecStart=</varname> and
353 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> are not valid.)</para>
354
355 <para>For each of the specified commands, the first argument must be either an absolute path to an executable
356 or a simple file name without any slashes. Optionally, this filename may be prefixed with a number of special
357 characters:</para>
358
359 <table>
360 <title>Special executable prefixes</title>
361
362 <tgroup cols='2'>
363 <colspec colname='prefix'/>
364 <colspec colname='meaning'/>
365
366 <thead>
367 <row>
368 <entry>Prefix</entry>
369 <entry>Effect</entry>
370 </row>
371 </thead>
372 <tbody>
373 <row>
374 <entry><literal>@</literal></entry>
375 <entry>If the executable path is prefixed with <literal>@</literal>, the second specified token will be passed as <literal>argv[0]</literal> to the executed process (instead of the actual filename), followed by the further arguments specified.</entry>
376 </row>
377
378 <row>
379 <entry><literal>-</literal></entry>
380 <entry>If the executable path is prefixed with <literal>-</literal>, an exit code of the command normally considered a failure (i.e. non-zero exit status or abnormal exit due to signal) is recorded, but has no further effect and is considered equivalent to success.</entry>
381 </row>
382
383 <row>
384 <entry><literal>:</literal></entry>
385 <entry>If the executable path is prefixed with <literal>:</literal>, environment variable substitution (as described by the "Command Lines" section below) is not applied.</entry>
386 </row>
387
388 <row>
389 <entry><literal>+</literal></entry>
390 <entry>If the executable path is prefixed with <literal>+</literal> then the process is executed with full privileges. In this mode privilege restrictions configured with <varname>User=</varname>, <varname>Group=</varname>, <varname>CapabilityBoundingSet=</varname> or the various file system namespacing options (such as <varname>PrivateDevices=</varname>, <varname>PrivateTmp=</varname>) are not applied to the invoked command line (but still affect any other <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, <varname>ExecStop=</varname>, … lines).</entry>
391 </row>
392
393 <row>
394 <entry><literal>!</literal></entry>
395
396 <entry>Similar to the <literal>+</literal> character discussed above this permits invoking command lines with elevated privileges. However, unlike <literal>+</literal> the <literal>!</literal> character exclusively alters the effect of <varname>User=</varname>, <varname>Group=</varname> and <varname>SupplementaryGroups=</varname>, i.e. only the stanzas that affect user and group credentials. Note that this setting may be combined with <varname>DynamicUser=</varname>, in which case a dynamic user/group pair is allocated before the command is invoked, but credential changing is left to the executed process itself.</entry>
397 </row>
398
399 <row>
400 <entry><literal>!!</literal></entry>
401
402 <entry>This prefix is very similar to <literal>!</literal>, however it only has an effect on systems lacking support for ambient process capabilities, i.e. without support for <varname>AmbientCapabilities=</varname>. It's intended to be used for unit files that take benefit of ambient capabilities to run processes with minimal privileges wherever possible while remaining compatible with systems that lack ambient capabilities support. Note that when <literal>!!</literal> is used, and a system lacking ambient capability support is detected any configured <varname>SystemCallFilter=</varname> and <varname>CapabilityBoundingSet=</varname> stanzas are implicitly modified, in order to permit spawned processes to drop credentials and capabilities themselves, even if this is configured to not be allowed. Moreover, if this prefix is used and a system lacking ambient capability support is detected <varname>AmbientCapabilities=</varname> will be skipped and not be applied. On systems supporting ambient capabilities, <literal>!!</literal> has no effect and is redundant.</entry>
403 </row>
404 </tbody>
405 </tgroup>
406 </table>
407
408 <para><literal>@</literal>, <literal>-</literal>, <literal>:</literal>, and one of
409 <literal>+</literal>/<literal>!</literal>/<literal>!!</literal> may be used together and they can appear in any
410 order. However, only one of <literal>+</literal>, <literal>!</literal>, <literal>!!</literal> may be used at a
411 time. Note that these prefixes are also supported for the other command line settings,
412 i.e. <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>, <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>, <varname>ExecReload=</varname>,
413 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> and <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname>.</para>
414
415 <para>If more than one command is specified, the commands are
416 invoked sequentially in the order they appear in the unit
417 file. If one of the commands fails (and is not prefixed with
418 <literal>-</literal>), other lines are not executed, and the
419 unit is considered failed.</para>
420
421 <para>Unless <varname>Type=forking</varname> is set, the
422 process started via this command line will be considered the
423 main process of the daemon.</para>
424 </listitem>
425 </varlistentry>
426
427 <varlistentry>
428 <term><varname>ExecStartPre=</varname></term>
429 <term><varname>ExecStartPost=</varname></term>
430 <listitem><para>Additional commands that are executed before
431 or after the command in <varname>ExecStart=</varname>,
432 respectively. Syntax is the same as for
433 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, except that multiple command
434 lines are allowed and the commands are executed one after the
435 other, serially.</para>
436
437 <para>If any of those commands (not prefixed with
438 <literal>-</literal>) fail, the rest are not executed and the
439 unit is considered failed.</para>
440
441 <para><varname>ExecStart=</varname> commands are only run after
442 all <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname> commands that were not prefixed
443 with a <literal>-</literal> exit successfully.</para>
444
445 <para><varname>ExecStartPost=</varname> commands are only run after the commands specified in
446 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> have been invoked successfully, as determined by <varname>Type=</varname>
447 (i.e. the process has been started for <varname>Type=simple</varname> or <varname>Type=idle</varname>, the last
448 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> process exited successfully for <varname>Type=oneshot</varname>, the initial
449 process exited successfully for <varname>Type=forking</varname>, <literal>READY=1</literal> is sent for
450 <varname>Type=notify</varname>, or the <varname>BusName=</varname> has been taken for
451 <varname>Type=dbus</varname>).</para>
452
453 <para>Note that <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname> may not be
454 used to start long-running processes. All processes forked
455 off by processes invoked via <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname> will
456 be killed before the next service process is run.</para>
457
458 <para>Note that if any of the commands specified in <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
459 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, or <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname> fail (and are not prefixed with
460 <literal>-</literal>, see above) or time out before the service is fully up, execution continues with commands
461 specified in <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname>, the commands in <varname>ExecStop=</varname> are skipped.</para>
462
463 <para>Note that the execution of <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname> is taken into account for the purpose of
464 <varname>Before=</varname>/<varname>After=</varname> ordering constraints.</para>
465 </listitem>
466 </varlistentry>
467
468 <varlistentry>
469 <term><varname>ExecCondition=</varname></term>
470 <listitem><para>Optional commands that are executed before the commands in <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>.
471 Syntax is the same as for <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, except that multiple command lines are allowed and the
472 commands are executed one after the other, serially.</para>
473
474 <para>The behavior is like an <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname> and condition check hybrid: when an
475 <varname>ExecCondition=</varname> command exits with exit code 1 through 254 (inclusive), the remaining
476 commands are skipped and the unit is <emphasis>not</emphasis> marked as failed. However, if an
477 <varname>ExecCondition=</varname> command exits with 255 or abnormally (e.g. timeout, killed by a
478 signal, etc.), the unit will be considered failed (and remaining commands will be skipped). Exit code of 0 or
479 those matching <varname>SuccessExitStatus=</varname> will continue execution to the next commands.</para>
480
481 <para>The same recommendations about not running long-running processes in <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>
482 also applies to <varname>ExecCondition=</varname>. <varname>ExecCondition=</varname> will also run the commands
483 in <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname>, as part of stopping the service, in the case of any non-zero or abnormal
484 exits, like the ones described above.</para>
485 </listitem>
486 </varlistentry>
487
488 <varlistentry>
489 <term><varname>ExecReload=</varname></term>
490 <listitem><para>Commands to execute to trigger a configuration
491 reload in the service. This argument takes multiple command
492 lines, following the same scheme as described for
493 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> above. Use of this setting is
494 optional. Specifier and environment variable substitution is
495 supported here following the same scheme as for
496 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>.</para>
497
498 <para>One additional, special environment variable is set: if
499 known, <varname>$MAINPID</varname> is set to the main process
500 of the daemon, and may be used for command lines like the
501 following:</para>
502
503 <programlisting>ExecReload=kill -HUP $MAINPID</programlisting>
504
505 <para>Note however that reloading a daemon by sending a signal
506 (as with the example line above) is usually not a good choice,
507 because this is an asynchronous operation and hence not
508 suitable to order reloads of multiple services against each
509 other. It is strongly recommended to set
510 <varname>ExecReload=</varname> to a command that not only
511 triggers a configuration reload of the daemon, but also
512 synchronously waits for it to complete. For example,
513 <citerefentry project='mankier'><refentrytitle>dbus-broker</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
514 uses the following:</para>
515
516 <programlisting>ExecReload=busctl call org.freedesktop.DBus \
517 /org/freedesktop/DBus org.freedesktop.DBus \
518 ReloadConfig
519 </programlisting>
520 </listitem>
521 </varlistentry>
522
523 <varlistentry>
524 <term><varname>ExecStop=</varname></term>
525 <listitem><para>Commands to execute to stop the service started via
526 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>. This argument takes multiple command lines, following the same scheme
527 as described for <varname>ExecStart=</varname> above. Use of this setting is optional. After the
528 commands configured in this option are run, it is implied that the service is stopped, and any
529 processes remaining for it are terminated according to the <varname>KillMode=</varname> setting (see
530 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
531 If this option is not specified, the process is terminated by sending the signal specified in
532 <varname>KillSignal=</varname> or <varname>RestartKillSignal=</varname> when service stop is
533 requested. Specifier and environment variable substitution is supported (including
534 <varname>$MAINPID</varname>, see above).</para>
535
536 <para>Note that it is usually not sufficient to specify a command for this setting that only asks the
537 service to terminate (for example, by sending some form of termination signal to it), but does not
538 wait for it to do so. Since the remaining processes of the services are killed according to
539 <varname>KillMode=</varname> and <varname>KillSignal=</varname> or
540 <varname>RestartKillSignal=</varname> as described above immediately after the command exited, this
541 may not result in a clean stop. The specified command should hence be a synchronous operation, not an
542 asynchronous one.</para>
543
544 <para>Note that the commands specified in <varname>ExecStop=</varname> are only executed when the service
545 started successfully first. They are not invoked if the service was never started at all, or in case its
546 start-up failed, for example because any of the commands specified in <varname>ExecStart=</varname>,
547 <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname> or <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname> failed (and weren't prefixed with
548 <literal>-</literal>, see above) or timed out. Use <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> to invoke commands when a
549 service failed to start up correctly and is shut down again. Also note that the stop operation is always
550 performed if the service started successfully, even if the processes in the service terminated on their
551 own or were killed. The stop commands must be prepared to deal with that case. <varname>$MAINPID</varname>
552 will be unset if systemd knows that the main process exited by the time the stop commands are called.</para>
553
554 <para>Service restart requests are implemented as stop operations followed by start operations. This
555 means that <varname>ExecStop=</varname> and <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> are executed during a
556 service restart operation.</para>
557
558 <para>It is recommended to use this setting for commands that communicate with the service requesting
559 clean termination. For post-mortem clean-up steps use <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> instead.
560 </para></listitem>
561 </varlistentry>
562
563 <varlistentry>
564 <term><varname>ExecStopPost=</varname></term>
565 <listitem><para>Additional commands that are executed after the service is stopped. This includes cases where
566 the commands configured in <varname>ExecStop=</varname> were used, where the service does not have any
567 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> defined, or where the service exited unexpectedly. This argument takes multiple
568 command lines, following the same scheme as described for <varname>ExecStart=</varname>. Use of these settings
569 is optional. Specifier and environment variable substitution is supported. Note that – unlike
570 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> – commands specified with this setting are invoked when a service failed to start
571 up correctly and is shut down again.</para>
572
573 <para>It is recommended to use this setting for clean-up operations that shall be executed even when the
574 service failed to start up correctly. Commands configured with this setting need to be able to operate even if
575 the service failed starting up half-way and left incompletely initialized data around. As the service's
576 processes have been terminated already when the commands specified with this setting are executed they should
577 not attempt to communicate with them.</para>
578
579 <para>Note that all commands that are configured with this setting are invoked with the result code of the
580 service, as well as the main process' exit code and status, set in the <varname>$SERVICE_RESULT</varname>,
581 <varname>$EXIT_CODE</varname> and <varname>$EXIT_STATUS</varname> environment variables, see
582 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
583 details.</para>
584
585 <para>Note that the execution of <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> is taken into account for the purpose of
586 <varname>Before=</varname>/<varname>After=</varname> ordering constraints.</para></listitem>
587 </varlistentry>
588
589 <varlistentry>
590 <term><varname>RestartSec=</varname></term>
591 <listitem><para>Configures the time to sleep before restarting
592 a service (as configured with <varname>Restart=</varname>).
593 Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a time span value such
594 as "5min 20s". Defaults to 100ms.</para></listitem>
595 </varlistentry>
596
597 <varlistentry>
598 <term><varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname></term>
599 <listitem><para>Configures the time to wait for start-up. If a daemon service does not signal start-up
600 completion within the configured time, the service will be considered failed and will be shut down again. The
601 precise action depends on the <varname>TimeoutStartFailureMode=</varname> option. Takes a unit-less value in
602 seconds, or a time span value such as "5min 20s". Pass <literal>infinity</literal> to disable the timeout logic.
603 Defaults to <varname>DefaultTimeoutStartSec=</varname> from the manager configuration file, except when
604 <varname>Type=oneshot</varname> is used, in which case the timeout is disabled by default (see
605 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
606 </para>
607
608 <para>If a service of <varname>Type=notify</varname> sends <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal>, this may cause
609 the start time to be extended beyond <varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname>. The first receipt of this message
610 must occur before <varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname> is exceeded, and once the start time has extended beyond
611 <varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname>, the service manager will allow the service to continue to start, provided
612 the service repeats <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal> within the interval specified until the service
613 startup status is finished by <literal>READY=1</literal>. (see
614 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
615 </para></listitem>
616 </varlistentry>
617
618 <varlistentry>
619 <term><varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname></term>
620 <listitem><para>This option serves two purposes. First, it configures the time to wait for each
621 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> command. If any of them times out, subsequent <varname>ExecStop=</varname> commands
622 are skipped and the service will be terminated by <constant>SIGTERM</constant>. If no <varname>ExecStop=</varname>
623 commands are specified, the service gets the <constant>SIGTERM</constant> immediately. This default behavior
624 can be changed by the <varname>TimeoutStopFailureMode=</varname> option. Second, it configures the time
625 to wait for the service itself to stop. If it doesn't terminate in the specified time, it will be forcibly terminated
626 by <constant>SIGKILL</constant> (see <varname>KillMode=</varname> in
627 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
628 Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a time span value such
629 as "5min 20s". Pass <literal>infinity</literal> to disable the
630 timeout logic. Defaults to
631 <varname>DefaultTimeoutStopSec=</varname> from the manager
632 configuration file (see
633 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
634 </para>
635
636 <para>If a service of <varname>Type=notify</varname> sends <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal>, this may cause
637 the stop time to be extended beyond <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>. The first receipt of this message
638 must occur before <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname> is exceeded, and once the stop time has extended beyond
639 <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>, the service manager will allow the service to continue to stop, provided
640 the service repeats <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal> within the interval specified, or terminates itself
641 (see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
642 </para></listitem>
643 </varlistentry>
644
645 <varlistentry>
646 <term><varname>TimeoutAbortSec=</varname></term>
647 <listitem><para>This option configures the time to wait for the service to terminate when it was aborted due to a
648 watchdog timeout (see <varname>WatchdogSec=</varname>). If the service has a short <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>
649 this option can be used to give the system more time to write a core dump of the service. Upon expiration the service
650 will be forcibly terminated by <constant>SIGKILL</constant> (see <varname>KillMode=</varname> in
651 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>). The core file will
652 be truncated in this case. Use <varname>TimeoutAbortSec=</varname> to set a sensible timeout for the core dumping per
653 service that is large enough to write all expected data while also being short enough to handle the service failure
654 in due time.
655 </para>
656
657 <para>Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a time span value such as "5min 20s". Pass an empty value to skip
658 the dedicated watchdog abort timeout handling and fall back <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>. Pass
659 <literal>infinity</literal> to disable the timeout logic. Defaults to <varname>DefaultTimeoutAbortSec=</varname> from
660 the manager configuration file (see
661 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
662 </para>
663
664 <para>If a service of <varname>Type=notify</varname> handles <constant>SIGABRT</constant> itself (instead of relying
665 on the kernel to write a core dump) it can send <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal> to
666 extended the abort time beyond <varname>TimeoutAbortSec=</varname>. The first receipt of this message
667 must occur before <varname>TimeoutAbortSec=</varname> is exceeded, and once the abort time has extended beyond
668 <varname>TimeoutAbortSec=</varname>, the service manager will allow the service to continue to abort, provided
669 the service repeats <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal> within the interval specified, or terminates itself
670 (see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
671 </para></listitem>
672 </varlistentry>
673
674 <varlistentry>
675 <term><varname>TimeoutSec=</varname></term>
676 <listitem><para>A shorthand for configuring both
677 <varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname> and
678 <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname> to the specified value.
679 </para></listitem>
680 </varlistentry>
681
682 <varlistentry>
683 <term><varname>TimeoutStartFailureMode=</varname></term>
684 <term><varname>TimeoutStopFailureMode=</varname></term>
685
686 <listitem><para>These options configure the action that is taken in case a daemon service does not signal
687 start-up within its configured <varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname>, respectively if it does not stop within
688 <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>. Takes one of <option>terminate</option>, <option>abort</option> and
689 <option>kill</option>. Both options default to <option>terminate</option>.</para>
690
691 <para>If <option>terminate</option> is set the service will be gracefully terminated by sending the signal
692 specified in <varname>KillSignal=</varname> (defaults to <constant>SIGTERM</constant>, see
693 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>). If the
694 service does not terminate the <varname>FinalKillSignal=</varname> is sent after
695 <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>. If <option>abort</option> is set, <varname>WatchdogSignal=</varname> is sent
696 instead and <varname>TimeoutAbortSec=</varname> applies before sending <varname>FinalKillSignal=</varname>.
697 This setting may be used to analyze services that fail to start-up or shut-down intermittently.
698 By using <option>kill</option> the service is immediately terminated by sending
699 <varname>FinalKillSignal=</varname> without any further timeout. This setting can be used to expedite the
700 shutdown of failing services.
701 </para></listitem>
702 </varlistentry>
703
704 <varlistentry>
705 <term><varname>RuntimeMaxSec=</varname></term>
706
707 <listitem><para>Configures a maximum time for the service to run. If this is used and the service has been
708 active for longer than the specified time it is terminated and put into a failure state. Note that this setting
709 does not have any effect on <varname>Type=oneshot</varname> services, as they terminate immediately after
710 activation completed. Pass <literal>infinity</literal> (the default) to configure no runtime
711 limit.</para>
712
713 <para>If a service of <varname>Type=notify</varname> sends <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal>, this may cause
714 the runtime to be extended beyond <varname>RuntimeMaxSec=</varname>. The first receipt of this message
715 must occur before <varname>RuntimeMaxSec=</varname> is exceeded, and once the runtime has extended beyond
716 <varname>RuntimeMaxSec=</varname>, the service manager will allow the service to continue to run, provided
717 the service repeats <literal>EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC=…</literal> within the interval specified until the service
718 shutdown is achieved by <literal>STOPPING=1</literal> (or termination). (see
719 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
720 </para></listitem>
721 </varlistentry>
722
723 <varlistentry>
724 <term><varname>RuntimeRandomizedExtraSec=</varname></term>
725
726 <listitem><para>This option modifies <varname>RuntimeMaxSec=</varname> by increasing the maximum runtime by an
727 evenly distributed duration between 0 and the specified value (in seconds). If <varname>RuntimeMaxSec=</varname> is
728 unspecified, then this feature will be disabled.
729 </para></listitem>
730 </varlistentry>
731
732 <varlistentry>
733 <term><varname>WatchdogSec=</varname></term>
734 <listitem><para>Configures the watchdog timeout for a service.
735 The watchdog is activated when the start-up is completed. The
736 service must call
737 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
738 regularly with <literal>WATCHDOG=1</literal> (i.e. the
739 "keep-alive ping"). If the time between two such calls is
740 larger than the configured time, then the service is placed in
741 a failed state and it will be terminated with
742 <constant>SIGABRT</constant> (or the signal specified by
743 <varname>WatchdogSignal=</varname>). By setting
744 <varname>Restart=</varname> to <option>on-failure</option>,
745 <option>on-watchdog</option>, <option>on-abnormal</option> or
746 <option>always</option>, the service will be automatically
747 restarted. The time configured here will be passed to the
748 executed service process in the
749 <varname>WATCHDOG_USEC=</varname> environment variable. This
750 allows daemons to automatically enable the keep-alive pinging
751 logic if watchdog support is enabled for the service. If this
752 option is used, <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> (see below)
753 should be set to open access to the notification socket
754 provided by systemd. If <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> is
755 not set, it will be implicitly set to <option>main</option>.
756 Defaults to 0, which disables this feature. The service can
757 check whether the service manager expects watchdog keep-alive
758 notifications. See
759 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_watchdog_enabled</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
760 for details.
761 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_event_set_watchdog</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
762 may be used to enable automatic watchdog notification support.
763 </para></listitem>
764 </varlistentry>
765
766 <varlistentry>
767 <term><varname>Restart=</varname></term>
768 <listitem><para>Configures whether the service shall be
769 restarted when the service process exits, is killed, or a
770 timeout is reached. The service process may be the main
771 service process, but it may also be one of the processes
772 specified with <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
773 <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
774 <varname>ExecStop=</varname>,
775 <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname>, or
776 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>. When the death of the process
777 is a result of systemd operation (e.g. service stop or
778 restart), the service will not be restarted. Timeouts include
779 missing the watchdog "keep-alive ping" deadline and a service
780 start, reload, and stop operation timeouts.</para>
781
782 <para>Takes one of
783 <option>no</option>,
784 <option>on-success</option>,
785 <option>on-failure</option>,
786 <option>on-abnormal</option>,
787 <option>on-watchdog</option>,
788 <option>on-abort</option>, or
789 <option>always</option>.
790 If set to <option>no</option> (the default), the service will
791 not be restarted. If set to <option>on-success</option>, it
792 will be restarted only when the service process exits cleanly.
793 In this context, a clean exit means any of the following:
794 <itemizedlist>
795 <listitem><simpara>exit code of 0;</simpara></listitem>
796 <listitem><simpara>for types other than
797 <varname>Type=oneshot</varname>, one of the signals
798 <constant>SIGHUP</constant>,
799 <constant>SIGINT</constant>,
800 <constant>SIGTERM</constant>, or
801 <constant>SIGPIPE</constant>;</simpara></listitem>
802 <listitem><simpara>exit statuses and signals specified in
803 <varname>SuccessExitStatus=</varname>.</simpara></listitem>
804 </itemizedlist>
805 If set to
806 <option>on-failure</option>, the service will be restarted
807 when the process exits with a non-zero exit code, is
808 terminated by a signal (including on core dump, but excluding
809 the aforementioned four signals), when an operation (such as
810 service reload) times out, and when the configured watchdog
811 timeout is triggered. If set to <option>on-abnormal</option>,
812 the service will be restarted when the process is terminated
813 by a signal (including on core dump, excluding the
814 aforementioned four signals), when an operation times out, or
815 when the watchdog timeout is triggered. If set to
816 <option>on-abort</option>, the service will be restarted only
817 if the service process exits due to an uncaught signal not
818 specified as a clean exit status. If set to
819 <option>on-watchdog</option>, the service will be restarted
820 only if the watchdog timeout for the service expires. If set
821 to <option>always</option>, the service will be restarted
822 regardless of whether it exited cleanly or not, got terminated
823 abnormally by a signal, or hit a timeout.</para>
824
825 <table>
826 <title>Exit causes and the effect of the <varname>Restart=</varname> settings</title>
827
828 <tgroup cols='2'>
829 <colspec colname='path' />
830 <colspec colname='expl' />
831 <thead>
832 <row>
833 <entry>Restart settings/Exit causes</entry>
834 <entry><option>no</option></entry>
835 <entry><option>always</option></entry>
836 <entry><option>on-success</option></entry>
837 <entry><option>on-failure</option></entry>
838 <entry><option>on-abnormal</option></entry>
839 <entry><option>on-abort</option></entry>
840 <entry><option>on-watchdog</option></entry>
841 </row>
842 </thead>
843 <tbody>
844 <row>
845 <entry>Clean exit code or signal</entry>
846 <entry/>
847 <entry>X</entry>
848 <entry>X</entry>
849 <entry/>
850 <entry/>
851 <entry/>
852 <entry/>
853 </row>
854 <row>
855 <entry>Unclean exit code</entry>
856 <entry/>
857 <entry>X</entry>
858 <entry/>
859 <entry>X</entry>
860 <entry/>
861 <entry/>
862 <entry/>
863 </row>
864 <row>
865 <entry>Unclean signal</entry>
866 <entry/>
867 <entry>X</entry>
868 <entry/>
869 <entry>X</entry>
870 <entry>X</entry>
871 <entry>X</entry>
872 <entry/>
873 </row>
874 <row>
875 <entry>Timeout</entry>
876 <entry/>
877 <entry>X</entry>
878 <entry/>
879 <entry>X</entry>
880 <entry>X</entry>
881 <entry/>
882 <entry/>
883 </row>
884 <row>
885 <entry>Watchdog</entry>
886 <entry/>
887 <entry>X</entry>
888 <entry/>
889 <entry>X</entry>
890 <entry>X</entry>
891 <entry/>
892 <entry>X</entry>
893 </row>
894 </tbody>
895 </tgroup>
896 </table>
897
898 <para>As exceptions to the setting above, the service will not
899 be restarted if the exit code or signal is specified in
900 <varname>RestartPreventExitStatus=</varname> (see below) or
901 the service is stopped with <command>systemctl stop</command>
902 or an equivalent operation. Also, the services will always be
903 restarted if the exit code or signal is specified in
904 <varname>RestartForceExitStatus=</varname> (see below).</para>
905
906 <para>Note that service restart is subject to unit start rate
907 limiting configured with <varname>StartLimitIntervalSec=</varname>
908 and <varname>StartLimitBurst=</varname>, see
909 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
910 for details. A restarted service enters the failed state only
911 after the start limits are reached.</para>
912
913 <para>Setting this to <option>on-failure</option> is the
914 recommended choice for long-running services, in order to
915 increase reliability by attempting automatic recovery from
916 errors. For services that shall be able to terminate on their
917 own choice (and avoid immediate restarting),
918 <option>on-abnormal</option> is an alternative choice.</para>
919 </listitem>
920 </varlistentry>
921
922 <varlistentry>
923 <term><varname>SuccessExitStatus=</varname></term>
924
925 <listitem><para>Takes a list of exit status definitions that, when returned by the main service
926 process, will be considered successful termination, in addition to the normal successful exit status
927 0 and, except for <varname>Type=oneshot</varname>, the signals <constant>SIGHUP</constant>, <constant>SIGINT</constant>,
928 <constant>SIGTERM</constant>, and <constant>SIGPIPE</constant>. Exit status definitions can be
929 numeric termination statuses, termination status names, or termination signal names, separated by
930 spaces. See the Process Exit Codes section in
931 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
932 a list of termination status names (for this setting only the part without the
933 <literal>EXIT_</literal> or <literal>EX_</literal> prefix should be used). See <citerefentry
934 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>signal</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
935 a list of signal names.</para>
936
937 <para>Note that this setting does not change the mapping between numeric exit statuses and their
938 names, i.e. regardless how this setting is used 0 will still be mapped to <literal>SUCCESS</literal>
939 (and thus typically shown as <literal>0/SUCCESS</literal> in tool outputs) and 1 to
940 <literal>FAILURE</literal> (and thus typically shown as <literal>1/FAILURE</literal>), and so on. It
941 only controls what happens as effect of these exit statuses, and how it propagates to the state of
942 the service as a whole.</para>
943
944 <para>This option may appear more than once, in which case the list of successful exit statuses is
945 merged. If the empty string is assigned to this option, the list is reset, all prior assignments of
946 this option will have no effect.</para>
947
948 <example>
949 <title>A service with the <varname>SuccessExitStatus=</varname> setting</title>
950
951 <programlisting>SuccessExitStatus=TEMPFAIL 250 SIGKILL</programlisting>
952
953 <para>Exit status 75 (<constant>TEMPFAIL</constant>), 250, and the termination signal
954 <constant>SIGKILL</constant> are considered clean service terminations.</para>
955 </example>
956
957 <para>Note: <command>systemd-analyze exit-status</command> may be used to list exit statuses and
958 translate between numerical status values and names.</para></listitem>
959 </varlistentry>
960
961 <varlistentry>
962 <term><varname>RestartPreventExitStatus=</varname></term>
963
964 <listitem><para>Takes a list of exit status definitions that, when returned by the main service
965 process, will prevent automatic service restarts, regardless of the restart setting configured with
966 <varname>Restart=</varname>. Exit status definitions can either be numeric exit codes or termination
967 signal names, and are separated by spaces. Defaults to the empty list, so that, by default, no exit
968 status is excluded from the configured restart logic. For example:
969
970 <programlisting>RestartPreventExitStatus=1 6 SIGABRT</programlisting>
971
972 ensures that exit codes 1 and 6 and the termination signal <constant>SIGABRT</constant> will not
973 result in automatic service restarting. This option may appear more than once, in which case the list
974 of restart-preventing statuses is merged. If the empty string is assigned to this option, the list is
975 reset and all prior assignments of this option will have no effect.</para>
976
977 <para>Note that this setting has no effect on processes configured via
978 <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>, <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>, <varname>ExecStop=</varname>,
979 <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> or <varname>ExecReload=</varname>, but only on the main service
980 process, i.e. either the one invoked by <varname>ExecStart=</varname> or (depending on
981 <varname>Type=</varname>, <varname>PIDFile=</varname>, …) the otherwise configured main
982 process.</para></listitem>
983 </varlistentry>
984
985 <varlistentry>
986 <term><varname>RestartForceExitStatus=</varname></term>
987 <listitem><para>Takes a list of exit status definitions that,
988 when returned by the main service process, will force automatic
989 service restarts, regardless of the restart setting configured
990 with <varname>Restart=</varname>. The argument format is
991 similar to
992 <varname>RestartPreventExitStatus=</varname>.</para></listitem>
993 </varlistentry>
994
995 <varlistentry>
996 <term><varname>RootDirectoryStartOnly=</varname></term>
997 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true, the root
998 directory, as configured with the
999 <varname>RootDirectory=</varname> option (see
1000 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1001 for more information), is only applied to the process started
1002 with <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, and not to the various
1003 other <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
1004 <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
1005 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>, <varname>ExecStop=</varname>,
1006 and <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> commands. If false, the
1007 setting is applied to all configured commands the same way.
1008 Defaults to false.</para></listitem>
1009 </varlistentry>
1010
1011 <varlistentry>
1012 <term><varname>NonBlocking=</varname></term>
1013 <listitem><para>Set the <constant>O_NONBLOCK</constant> flag for all file descriptors passed via socket-based
1014 activation. If true, all file descriptors >= 3 (i.e. all except stdin, stdout, stderr), excluding those passed
1015 in via the file descriptor storage logic (see <varname>FileDescriptorStoreMax=</varname> for details), will
1016 have the <constant>O_NONBLOCK</constant> flag set and hence are in non-blocking mode. This option is only
1017 useful in conjunction with a socket unit, as described in
1018 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> and has no
1019 effect on file descriptors which were previously saved in the file-descriptor store for example. Defaults to
1020 false.</para></listitem>
1021 </varlistentry>
1022
1023 <varlistentry>
1024 <term><varname>NotifyAccess=</varname></term>
1025 <listitem><para>Controls access to the service status notification socket, as accessible via the
1026 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry> call. Takes one
1027 of <option>none</option> (the default), <option>main</option>, <option>exec</option> or
1028 <option>all</option>. If <option>none</option>, no daemon status updates are accepted from the service
1029 processes, all status update messages are ignored. If <option>main</option>, only service updates sent from the
1030 main process of the service are accepted. If <option>exec</option>, only service updates sent from any of the
1031 main or control processes originating from one of the <varname>Exec*=</varname> commands are accepted. If
1032 <option>all</option>, all services updates from all members of the service's control group are accepted. This
1033 option should be set to open access to the notification socket when using <varname>Type=notify</varname> or
1034 <varname>WatchdogSec=</varname> (see above). If those options are used but <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> is
1035 not configured, it will be implicitly set to <option>main</option>.</para>
1036
1037 <para>Note that <function>sd_notify()</function> notifications may be attributed to units correctly only if
1038 either the sending process is still around at the time PID 1 processes the message, or if the sending process
1039 is explicitly runtime-tracked by the service manager. The latter is the case if the service manager originally
1040 forked off the process, i.e. on all processes that match <option>main</option> or
1041 <option>exec</option>. Conversely, if an auxiliary process of the unit sends an
1042 <function>sd_notify()</function> message and immediately exits, the service manager might not be able to
1043 properly attribute the message to the unit, and thus will ignore it, even if
1044 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname><option>all</option> is set for it.</para>
1045
1046 <para>Hence, to eliminate all race conditions involving lookup of the client's unit and attribution of notifications
1047 to units correctly, <function>sd_notify_barrier()</function> may be used. This call acts as a synchronization point
1048 and ensures all notifications sent before this call have been picked up by the service manager when it returns
1049 successfully. Use of <function>sd_notify_barrier()</function> is needed for clients which are not invoked by the
1050 service manager, otherwise this synchronization mechanism is unnecessary for attribution of notifications to the
1051 unit.</para></listitem>
1052 </varlistentry>
1053
1054 <varlistentry>
1055 <term><varname>Sockets=</varname></term>
1056 <listitem><para>Specifies the name of the socket units this
1057 service shall inherit socket file descriptors from when the
1058 service is started. Normally, it should not be necessary to use
1059 this setting, as all socket file descriptors whose unit shares
1060 the same name as the service (subject to the different unit
1061 name suffix of course) are passed to the spawned
1062 process.</para>
1063
1064 <para>Note that the same socket file descriptors may be passed
1065 to multiple processes simultaneously. Also note that a
1066 different service may be activated on incoming socket traffic
1067 than the one which is ultimately configured to inherit the
1068 socket file descriptors. Or, in other words: the
1069 <varname>Service=</varname> setting of
1070 <filename>.socket</filename> units does not have to match the
1071 inverse of the <varname>Sockets=</varname> setting of the
1072 <filename>.service</filename> it refers to.</para>
1073
1074 <para>This option may appear more than once, in which case the list of socket units is merged. Note
1075 that once set, clearing the list of sockets again (for example, by assigning the empty string to this
1076 option) is not supported.</para></listitem>
1077 </varlistentry>
1078
1079 <varlistentry>
1080 <term><varname>FileDescriptorStoreMax=</varname></term>
1081 <listitem><para>Configure how many file descriptors may be stored in the service manager for the
1082 service using
1083 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_pid_notify_with_fds</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>'s
1084 <literal>FDSTORE=1</literal> messages. This is useful for implementing services that can restart
1085 after an explicit request or a crash without losing state. Any open sockets and other file
1086 descriptors which should not be closed during the restart may be stored this way. Application state
1087 can either be serialized to a file in <filename>/run/</filename>, or better, stored in a
1088 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>memfd_create</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1089 memory file descriptor. Defaults to 0, i.e. no file descriptors may be stored in the service
1090 manager. All file descriptors passed to the service manager from a specific service are passed back
1091 to the service's main process on the next service restart (see
1092 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
1093 details about the precise protocol used and the order in which the file descriptors are passed). Any
1094 file descriptors passed to the service manager are automatically closed when
1095 <constant>POLLHUP</constant> or <constant>POLLERR</constant> is seen on them, or when the service is
1096 fully stopped and no job is queued or being executed for it. If this option is used,
1097 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> (see above) should be set to open access to the notification socket
1098 provided by systemd. If <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> is not set, it will be implicitly set to
1099 <option>main</option>.</para></listitem>
1100 </varlistentry>
1101
1102 <varlistentry>
1103 <term><varname>USBFunctionDescriptors=</varname></term>
1104 <listitem><para>Configure the location of a file containing
1105 <ulink
1106 url="https://docs.kernel.org/usb/functionfs.html">USB
1107 FunctionFS</ulink> descriptors, for implementation of USB
1108 gadget functions. This is used only in conjunction with a
1109 socket unit with <varname>ListenUSBFunction=</varname>
1110 configured. The contents of this file are written to the
1111 <filename>ep0</filename> file after it is
1112 opened.</para></listitem>
1113 </varlistentry>
1114
1115 <varlistentry>
1116 <term><varname>USBFunctionStrings=</varname></term>
1117 <listitem><para>Configure the location of a file containing
1118 USB FunctionFS strings. Behavior is similar to
1119 <varname>USBFunctionDescriptors=</varname>
1120 above.</para></listitem>
1121 </varlistentry>
1122
1123 <varlistentry id='oom-policy'>
1124 <term><varname>OOMPolicy=</varname></term>
1125
1126 <listitem><para>Configure the out-of-memory (OOM) killing policy for the kernel and the userspace OOM
1127 killer
1128 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-oomd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
1129 On Linux, when memory becomes scarce to the point that the kernel has trouble allocating memory for
1130 itself, it might decide to kill a running process in order to free up memory and reduce memory
1131 pressure. Note that <filename>systemd-oomd.service</filename> is a more flexible solution that aims
1132 to prevent out-of-memory situations for the userspace too, not just the kernel, by attempting to
1133 terminate services earlier, before the kernel would have to act.</para>
1134
1135 <para>This setting takes one of <constant>continue</constant>, <constant>stop</constant> or
1136 <constant>kill</constant>. If set to <constant>continue</constant> and a process in the unit is
1137 killed by the OOM killer, this is logged but the unit continues running. If set to
1138 <constant>stop</constant> the event is logged but the unit is terminated cleanly by the service
1139 manager. If set to <constant>kill</constant> and one of the unit's processes is killed by the OOM
1140 killer the kernel is instructed to kill all remaining processes of the unit too, by setting the
1141 <filename>memory.oom.group</filename> attribute to <constant>1</constant>; also see <ulink
1142 url="https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.html">kernel documentation</ulink>.</para>
1143
1144 <para>Defaults to the setting <varname>DefaultOOMPolicy=</varname> in
1145 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1146 is set to, except for units where <varname>Delegate=</varname> is turned on, where it defaults to
1147 <constant>continue</constant>.</para>
1148
1149 <para>Use the <varname>OOMScoreAdjust=</varname> setting to configure whether processes of the unit
1150 shall be considered preferred or less preferred candidates for process termination by the Linux OOM
1151 killer logic. See
1152 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
1153 details.</para>
1154
1155 <para>This setting also applies to <command>systemd-oomd</command>. Similarly to the kernel OOM
1156 kills, this setting determines the state of the unit after <command>systemd-oomd</command> kills a
1157 cgroup associated with it.</para></listitem>
1158 </varlistentry>
1159 </variablelist>
1160
1161 <para id='shared-unit-options'>Check
1162 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1163 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, and
1164 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for more
1165 settings.</para>
1166 </refsect1>
1167
1168 <refsect1>
1169 <title>Command lines</title>
1170
1171 <para>This section describes command line parsing and
1172 variable and specifier substitutions for
1173 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>,
1174 <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
1175 <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
1176 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>,
1177 <varname>ExecStop=</varname>, and
1178 <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> options.</para>
1179
1180 <para>Multiple command lines may be concatenated in a single directive by separating them with semicolons
1181 (these semicolons must be passed as separate words). Lone semicolons may be escaped as
1182 <literal>\;</literal>.</para>
1183
1184 <para>Each command line is unquoted using the rules described in "Quoting" section in
1185 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.syntax</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>. The
1186 first item becomes the command to execute, and the subsequent items the arguments.</para>
1187
1188 <para>This syntax is inspired by shell syntax, but only the meta-characters and expansions
1189 described in the following paragraphs are understood, and the expansion of variables is
1190 different. Specifically, redirection using
1191 <literal>&lt;</literal>,
1192 <literal>&lt;&lt;</literal>,
1193 <literal>&gt;</literal>, and
1194 <literal>&gt;&gt;</literal>, pipes using
1195 <literal>|</literal>, running programs in the background using
1196 <literal>&amp;</literal>, and <emphasis>other elements of shell
1197 syntax are not supported</emphasis>.</para>
1198
1199 <para>The command to execute may contain spaces, but control characters are not allowed.</para>
1200
1201 <para>The command line accepts <literal>%</literal> specifiers as described in
1202 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
1203
1204 <para>Basic environment variable substitution is supported. Use
1205 <literal>${FOO}</literal> as part of a word, or as a word of its
1206 own, on the command line, in which case it will be erased and replaced
1207 by the exact value of the environment variable (if any) including all
1208 whitespace it contains, always resulting in exactly a single argument.
1209 Use <literal>$FOO</literal> as a separate word on the command line, in
1210 which case it will be replaced by the value of the environment
1211 variable split at whitespace, resulting in zero or more arguments.
1212 For this type of expansion, quotes are respected when splitting
1213 into words, and afterwards removed.</para>
1214
1215 <para>If the command is not a full (absolute) path, it will be resolved to a full path using a
1216 fixed search path determined at compilation time. Searched directories include
1217 <filename>/usr/local/bin/</filename>, <filename>/usr/bin/</filename>, <filename>/bin/</filename>
1218 on systems using split <filename>/usr/bin/</filename> and <filename>/bin/</filename>
1219 directories, and their <filename>sbin/</filename> counterparts on systems using split
1220 <filename>bin/</filename> and <filename>sbin/</filename>. It is thus safe to use just the
1221 executable name in case of executables located in any of the "standard" directories, and an
1222 absolute path must be used in other cases. Using an absolute path is recommended to avoid
1223 ambiguity. Hint: this search path may be queried using
1224 <command>systemd-path search-binaries-default</command>.</para>
1225
1226 <para>Example:</para>
1227
1228 <programlisting>Environment="ONE=one" 'TWO=two two'
1229 ExecStart=echo $ONE $TWO ${TWO}</programlisting>
1230
1231 <para>This will execute <command>/bin/echo</command> with four
1232 arguments: <literal>one</literal>, <literal>two</literal>,
1233 <literal>two</literal>, and <literal>two two</literal>.</para>
1234
1235 <para>Example:</para>
1236 <programlisting>Environment=ONE='one' "TWO='two two' too" THREE=
1237 ExecStart=/bin/echo ${ONE} ${TWO} ${THREE}
1238 ExecStart=/bin/echo $ONE $TWO $THREE</programlisting>
1239 <para>This results in <filename>/bin/echo</filename> being
1240 called twice, the first time with arguments
1241 <literal>'one'</literal>,
1242 <literal>'two two' too</literal>, <literal></literal>,
1243 and the second time with arguments
1244 <literal>one</literal>, <literal>two two</literal>,
1245 <literal>too</literal>.
1246 </para>
1247
1248 <para>To pass a literal dollar sign, use <literal>$$</literal>.
1249 Variables whose value is not known at expansion time are treated
1250 as empty strings. Note that the first argument (i.e. the program
1251 to execute) may not be a variable.</para>
1252
1253 <para>Variables to be used in this fashion may be defined through
1254 <varname>Environment=</varname> and
1255 <varname>EnvironmentFile=</varname>. In addition, variables listed
1256 in the section "Environment variables in spawned processes" in
1257 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1258 which are considered "static configuration", may be used (this
1259 includes e.g. <varname>$USER</varname>, but not
1260 <varname>$TERM</varname>).</para>
1261
1262 <para>Note that shell command lines are not directly supported. If
1263 shell command lines are to be used, they need to be passed
1264 explicitly to a shell implementation of some kind. Example:</para>
1265 <programlisting>ExecStart=sh -c 'dmesg | tac'</programlisting>
1266
1267 <para>Example:</para>
1268
1269 <programlisting>ExecStart=echo one ; echo "two two"</programlisting>
1270
1271 <para>This will execute <command>echo</command> two times,
1272 each time with one argument: <literal>one</literal> and
1273 <literal>two two</literal>, respectively. Because two commands are
1274 specified, <varname>Type=oneshot</varname> must be used.</para>
1275
1276 <para>Example:</para>
1277
1278 <programlisting>ExecStart=echo / &gt;/dev/null &amp; \; \
1279 ls</programlisting>
1280
1281 <para>This will execute <command>echo</command>
1282 with five arguments: <literal>/</literal>,
1283 <literal>&gt;/dev/null</literal>,
1284 <literal>&amp;</literal>, <literal>;</literal>, and
1285 <literal>ls</literal>.</para>
1286 </refsect1>
1287
1288 <refsect1>
1289 <title>Examples</title>
1290
1291 <example>
1292 <title>Simple service</title>
1293
1294 <para>The following unit file creates a service that will
1295 execute <filename index="false">/usr/sbin/foo-daemon</filename>. Since no
1296 <varname>Type=</varname> is specified, the default
1297 <varname>Type=</varname><option>simple</option> will be assumed.
1298 systemd will assume the unit to be started immediately after the
1299 program has begun executing.</para>
1300
1301 <programlisting>[Unit]
1302 Description=Foo
1303
1304 [Service]
1305 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/foo-daemon
1306
1307 [Install]
1308 WantedBy=multi-user.target</programlisting>
1309
1310 <para>Note that systemd assumes here that the process started by
1311 systemd will continue running until the service terminates. If
1312 the program daemonizes itself (i.e. forks), please use
1313 <varname>Type=</varname><option>forking</option> instead.</para>
1314
1315 <para>Since no <varname>ExecStop=</varname> was specified,
1316 systemd will send SIGTERM to all processes started from this
1317 service, and after a timeout also SIGKILL. This behavior can be
1318 modified, see
1319 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1320 for details.</para>
1321
1322 <para>Note that this unit type does not include any type of
1323 notification when a service has completed initialization. For
1324 this, you should use other unit types, such as
1325 <varname>Type=</varname><option>notify</option> if the service
1326 understands systemd's notification protocol,
1327 <varname>Type=</varname><option>forking</option> if the service
1328 can background itself or
1329 <varname>Type=</varname><option>dbus</option> if the unit
1330 acquires a DBus name once initialization is complete. See
1331 below.</para>
1332 </example>
1333
1334 <example>
1335 <title>Oneshot service</title>
1336
1337 <para>Sometimes, units should just execute an action without
1338 keeping active processes, such as a filesystem check or a
1339 cleanup action on boot. For this,
1340 <varname>Type=</varname><option>oneshot</option> exists. Units
1341 of this type will wait until the process specified terminates
1342 and then fall back to being inactive. The following unit will
1343 perform a cleanup action:</para>
1344
1345 <programlisting>[Unit]
1346 Description=Cleanup old Foo data
1347
1348 [Service]
1349 Type=oneshot
1350 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/foo-cleanup
1351
1352 [Install]
1353 WantedBy=multi-user.target</programlisting>
1354
1355 <para>Note that systemd will consider the unit to be in the
1356 state "starting" until the program has terminated, so ordered
1357 dependencies will wait for the program to finish before starting
1358 themselves. The unit will revert to the "inactive" state after
1359 the execution is done, never reaching the "active" state. That
1360 means another request to start the unit will perform the action
1361 again.</para>
1362
1363 <para><varname>Type=</varname><option>oneshot</option> are the
1364 only service units that may have more than one
1365 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> specified. For units with multiple
1366 commands (<varname index="false">Type=oneshot</varname>), all commands will be run again.</para>
1367 <para> For <varname index="false">Type=oneshot</varname>, <varname>Restart=</varname><option>always</option>
1368 and <varname>Restart=</varname><option>on-success</option> are <emphasis>not</emphasis> allowed.</para>
1369 </example>
1370
1371 <example>
1372 <title>Stoppable oneshot service</title>
1373
1374 <para>Similarly to the oneshot services, there are sometimes
1375 units that need to execute a program to set up something and
1376 then execute another to shut it down, but no process remains
1377 active while they are considered "started". Network
1378 configuration can sometimes fall into this category. Another use
1379 case is if a oneshot service shall not be executed each time
1380 when they are pulled in as a dependency, but only the first
1381 time.</para>
1382
1383 <para>For this, systemd knows the setting
1384 <varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname><option>yes</option>, which
1385 causes systemd to consider the unit to be active if the start
1386 action exited successfully. This directive can be used with all
1387 types, but is most useful with
1388 <varname>Type=</varname><option>oneshot</option> and
1389 <varname>Type=</varname><option>simple</option>. With
1390 <varname>Type=</varname><option>oneshot</option>, systemd waits
1391 until the start action has completed before it considers the
1392 unit to be active, so dependencies start only after the start
1393 action has succeeded. With
1394 <varname>Type=</varname><option>simple</option>, dependencies
1395 will start immediately after the start action has been
1396 dispatched. The following unit provides an example for a simple
1397 static firewall.</para>
1398
1399 <programlisting>[Unit]
1400 Description=Simple firewall
1401
1402 [Service]
1403 Type=oneshot
1404 RemainAfterExit=yes
1405 ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/simple-firewall-start
1406 ExecStop=/usr/local/sbin/simple-firewall-stop
1407
1408 [Install]
1409 WantedBy=multi-user.target</programlisting>
1410
1411 <para>Since the unit is considered to be running after the start
1412 action has exited, invoking <command>systemctl start</command>
1413 on that unit again will cause no action to be taken.</para>
1414 </example>
1415
1416 <example>
1417 <title>Traditional forking services</title>
1418
1419 <para>Many traditional daemons/services background (i.e. fork,
1420 daemonize) themselves when starting. Set
1421 <varname>Type=</varname><option>forking</option> in the
1422 service's unit file to support this mode of operation. systemd
1423 will consider the service to be in the process of initialization
1424 while the original program is still running. Once it exits
1425 successfully and at least a process remains (and
1426 <varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname><option>no</option>), the
1427 service is considered started.</para>
1428
1429 <para>Often, a traditional daemon only consists of one process.
1430 Therefore, if only one process is left after the original
1431 process terminates, systemd will consider that process the main
1432 process of the service. In that case, the
1433 <varname>$MAINPID</varname> variable will be available in
1434 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>, <varname>ExecStop=</varname>,
1435 etc.</para>
1436
1437 <para>In case more than one process remains, systemd will be
1438 unable to determine the main process, so it will not assume
1439 there is one. In that case, <varname>$MAINPID</varname> will not
1440 expand to anything. However, if the process decides to write a
1441 traditional PID file, systemd will be able to read the main PID
1442 from there. Please set <varname>PIDFile=</varname> accordingly.
1443 Note that the daemon should write that file before finishing
1444 with its initialization. Otherwise, systemd might try to read the
1445 file before it exists.</para>
1446
1447 <para>The following example shows a simple daemon that forks and
1448 just starts one process in the background:</para>
1449
1450 <programlisting>[Unit]
1451 Description=Some simple daemon
1452
1453 [Service]
1454 Type=forking
1455 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/my-simple-daemon -d
1456
1457 [Install]
1458 WantedBy=multi-user.target</programlisting>
1459
1460 <para>Please see
1461 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1462 for details on how you can influence the way systemd terminates
1463 the service.</para>
1464 </example>
1465
1466 <example>
1467 <title>DBus services</title>
1468
1469 <para>For services that acquire a name on the DBus system bus,
1470 use <varname>Type=</varname><option>dbus</option> and set
1471 <varname>BusName=</varname> accordingly. The service should not
1472 fork (daemonize). systemd will consider the service to be
1473 initialized once the name has been acquired on the system bus.
1474 The following example shows a typical DBus service:</para>
1475
1476 <programlisting>[Unit]
1477 Description=Simple DBus service
1478
1479 [Service]
1480 Type=dbus
1481 BusName=org.example.simple-dbus-service
1482 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/simple-dbus-service
1483
1484 [Install]
1485 WantedBy=multi-user.target</programlisting>
1486
1487 <para>For <emphasis>bus-activatable</emphasis> services, do not
1488 include a [Install] section in the systemd
1489 service file, but use the <varname>SystemdService=</varname>
1490 option in the corresponding DBus service file, for example
1491 (<filename>/usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.example.simple-dbus-service.service</filename>):</para>
1492
1493 <programlisting>[D-BUS Service]
1494 Name=org.example.simple-dbus-service
1495 Exec=/usr/sbin/simple-dbus-service
1496 User=root
1497 SystemdService=simple-dbus-service.service</programlisting>
1498
1499 <para>Please see
1500 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1501 for details on how you can influence the way systemd terminates
1502 the service.</para>
1503 </example>
1504
1505 <example>
1506 <title>Services that notify systemd about their initialization</title>
1507
1508 <para><varname>Type=</varname><option>simple</option> services
1509 are really easy to write, but have the major disadvantage of
1510 systemd not being able to tell when initialization of the given
1511 service is complete. For this reason, systemd supports a simple
1512 notification protocol that allows daemons to make systemd aware
1513 that they are done initializing. Use
1514 <varname>Type=</varname><option>notify</option> for this. A
1515 typical service file for such a daemon would look like
1516 this:</para>
1517
1518 <programlisting>[Unit]
1519 Description=Simple notifying service
1520
1521 [Service]
1522 Type=notify
1523 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/simple-notifying-service
1524
1525 [Install]
1526 WantedBy=multi-user.target</programlisting>
1527
1528 <para>Note that the daemon has to support systemd's notification
1529 protocol, else systemd will think the service has not started yet
1530 and kill it after a timeout. For an example of how to update
1531 daemons to support this protocol transparently, take a look at
1532 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
1533 systemd will consider the unit to be in the 'starting' state
1534 until a readiness notification has arrived.</para>
1535
1536 <para>Please see
1537 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1538 for details on how you can influence the way systemd terminates
1539 the service.</para>
1540 </example>
1541 </refsect1>
1542
1543 <refsect1>
1544 <title>See Also</title>
1545 <para>
1546 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1547 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1548 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1549 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1550 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1551 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1552 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1553 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1554 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-run</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1555 </para>
1556 </refsect1>
1557
1558 </refentry>