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1<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
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3<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
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6<!--
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8
9 Copyright 2010 Lennart Poettering
10
11 systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
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12 under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
13 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
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16 systemd is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
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5430f7f2 19 Lesser General Public License for more details.
d1ab0ca0 20
5430f7f2 21 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
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22 along with systemd; If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
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24
25<refentry id="systemd.service">
26 <refentryinfo>
27 <title>systemd.service</title>
28 <productname>systemd</productname>
29
30 <authorgroup>
31 <author>
32 <contrib>Developer</contrib>
33 <firstname>Lennart</firstname>
34 <surname>Poettering</surname>
35 <email>lennart@poettering.net</email>
36 </author>
37 </authorgroup>
38 </refentryinfo>
39
40 <refmeta>
41 <refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle>
42 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
43 </refmeta>
44
45 <refnamediv>
46 <refname>systemd.service</refname>
34511ca7 47 <refpurpose>Service unit configuration</refpurpose>
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48 </refnamediv>
49
50 <refsynopsisdiv>
e670b166 51 <para><filename><replaceable>service</replaceable>.service</filename></para>
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52 </refsynopsisdiv>
53
54 <refsect1>
55 <title>Description</title>
56
1f812fea 57 <para>A unit configuration file whose name ends in
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58 <filename>.service</filename> encodes information
59 about a process controlled and supervised by
60 systemd.</para>
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61
62 <para>This man page lists the configuration options
63 specific to this unit type. See
64 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
65 for the common options of all unit configuration
0d624a78 66 files. The common configuration items are configured
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67 in the generic <literal>[Unit]</literal> and
68 <literal>[Install]</literal> sections. The service
69 specific configuration options are configured in the
70 <literal>[Service]</literal> section.</para>
0d624a78 71
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72 <para>Additional options are listed in
73 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
74 which define the execution environment the commands
4819ff03 75 are executed in, and in
d868475a 76 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
4819ff03 77 which define the way the processes of the service are
d868475a 78 terminated, and in
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79 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
80 which configure resource control settings for the
d868475a 81 processes of the service.</para>
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82
83 <para>Unless <varname>DefaultDependencies=</varname>
84 is set to <option>false</option>, service units will
85 implicitly have dependencies of type
86 <varname>Requires=</varname> and
87 <varname>After=</varname> on
88 <filename>basic.target</filename> as well as
89 dependencies of type <varname>Conflicts=</varname> and
90 <varname>Before=</varname> on
91 <filename>shutdown.target</filename>. These ensure
92 that normal service units pull in basic system
93 initialization, and are terminated cleanly prior to
94 system shutdown. Only services involved with early
95 boot or late system shutdown should disable this
96 option.</para>
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97
98 <para>If a service is requested under a certain name
99 but no unit configuration file is found, systemd looks
100 for a SysV init script by the same name (with the
101 <filename>.service</filename> suffix removed) and
102 dynamically creates a service unit from that
103 script. This is useful for compatibility with
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104 SysV. Note that this compatibility is quite
105 comprehensive but not 100%. For details about the
bcddd5bf 106 incompatibilities, see the <ulink
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107 url="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/Incompatibilities">Incompatibilities
108 with SysV</ulink> document.
109 </para>
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110 </refsect1>
111
112 <refsect1>
113 <title>Options</title>
114
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115 <para>Service files must include a
116 <literal>[Service]</literal> section, which carries
117 information about the service and the process it
118 supervises. A number of options that may be used in
119 this section are shared with other unit types. These
120 options are documented in
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121 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
122 and
123 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. The
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124 options specific to the <literal>[Service]</literal>
125 section of service units are the following:</para>
0d624a78 126
ccc9a4f9 127 <variablelist class='unit-directives'>
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128 <varlistentry>
129 <term><varname>Type=</varname></term>
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130
131 <listitem><para>Configures the process
132 start-up type for this service
133 unit. One of <option>simple</option>,
134 <option>forking</option>,
34e9ba66 135 <option>oneshot</option>,
0d624a78 136 <option>dbus</option>,
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137 <option>notify</option> or
138 <option>idle</option>.</para>
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139
140 <para>If set to
141 <option>simple</option> (the default
96fb8242 142 if neither
12b25f30 143 <varname>Type=</varname> nor
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144 <varname>BusName=</varname>, but
145 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> are
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146 specified), it is expected that the
147 process configured with
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148 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> is the
149 main process of the service. In this
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150 mode, if the process offers
151 functionality to other processes on
79640424 152 the system, its communication channels
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153 should be installed before the daemon
154 is started up (e.g. sockets set up by
155 systemd, via socket activation), as
156 systemd will immediately proceed
157 starting follow-up units.</para>
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158
159 <para>If set to
79640424 160 <option>forking</option>, it is
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161 expected that the process configured
162 with <varname>ExecStart=</varname>
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163 will call <function>fork()</function>
164 as part of its start-up. The parent process is
165 expected to exit when start-up is
166 complete and all communication
79640424 167 channels are set up. The child continues
b1690fe7 168 to run as the main daemon
c5315881 169 process. This is the behavior of
b1690fe7 170 traditional UNIX daemons. If this
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171 setting is used, it is recommended to
172 also use the
173 <varname>PIDFile=</varname> option, so
174 that systemd can identify the main
175 process of the daemon. systemd will
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176 proceed with starting follow-up units
177 as soon as the parent process
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178 exits.</para>
179
c5315881 180 <para>Behavior of
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181 <option>oneshot</option> is similar to
182 <option>simple</option>; however, it
183 is expected that the process has to
0d624a78 184 exit before systemd starts follow-up
02ee865a 185 units. <varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname>
0d624a78 186 is particularly useful for this type
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187 of service. This is the implied
188 default if neither
189 <varname>Type=</varname> or
190 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> are
191 specified.</para>
0d624a78 192
c5315881 193 <para>Behavior of
0d624a78 194 <option>dbus</option> is similar to
bcddd5bf 195 <option>simple</option>; however, it is
62adf224 196 expected that the daemon acquires a
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197 name on the D-Bus bus, as configured
198 by
199 <varname>BusName=</varname>. systemd
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200 will proceed with starting follow-up
201 units after the D-Bus bus name has been
62adf224 202 acquired. Service units with this
b1690fe7 203 option configured implicitly gain
62adf224 204 dependencies on the
177b3ffe 205 <filename>dbus.socket</filename>
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206 unit. This type is the default if
207 <varname>BusName=</varname> is
208 specified.</para>
0d624a78 209
c5315881 210 <para>Behavior of
0d624a78 211 <option>notify</option> is similar to
bcddd5bf 212 <option>simple</option>; however, it is
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213 expected that the daemon sends a
214 notification message via
215 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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216 or an equivalent call when it has finished
217 starting up. systemd will proceed with
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218 starting follow-up units after this
219 notification message has been sent. If
79640424 220 this option is used,
62adf224 221 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> (see
b1690fe7 222 below) should be set to open access to
0d624a78 223 the notification socket provided by
62adf224 224 systemd. If
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225 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> is
226 not set, it will be implicitly set to
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227 <option>main</option>. Note that
228 currently
229 <varname>Type=</varname><option>notify</option>
79640424 230 will not work if used in combination with
1361a3e3 231 <varname>PrivateNetwork=</varname><option>yes</option>.</para>
a8ad0f89 232
c5315881 233 <para>Behavior of
a8ad0f89 234 <option>idle</option> is very similar
bcddd5bf 235 to <option>simple</option>; however,
bb31a4ac 236 actual execution of the service
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237 binary is delayed until all jobs are
238 dispatched. This may be used to avoid
239 interleaving of output of shell
240 services with the status output on the
241 console.</para>
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242 </listitem>
243 </varlistentry>
0d624a78 244
d1ab0ca0 245 <varlistentry>
02ee865a 246 <term><varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname></term>
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247
248 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value
249 that specifies whether the service
250 shall be considered active even when
251 all its processes exited. Defaults to
252 <option>no</option>.</para>
d1ab0ca0 253 </listitem>
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254 </varlistentry>
255
256 <varlistentry>
257 <term><varname>GuessMainPID=</varname></term>
258
259 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value
260 that specifies whether systemd should
261 try to guess the main PID of a service
bb31a4ac 262 if it cannot be determined
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263 reliably. This option is ignored
264 unless <option>Type=forking</option>
265 is set and <option>PIDFile=</option>
266 is unset because for the other types
267 or with an explicitly configured PID
bcddd5bf 268 file, the main PID is always known. The
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269 guessing algorithm might come to
270 incorrect conclusions if a daemon
271 consists of more than one process. If
79640424 272 the main PID cannot be determined,
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273 failure detection and automatic
274 restarting of a service will not work
275 reliably. Defaults to
276 <option>yes</option>.</para>
277 </listitem>
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278 </varlistentry>
279
280 <varlistentry>
281 <term><varname>PIDFile=</varname></term>
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282
283 <listitem><para>Takes an absolute file
284 name pointing to the PID file of this
285 daemon. Use of this option is
286 recommended for services where
287 <varname>Type=</varname> is set to
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288 <option>forking</option>. systemd will
289 read the PID of the main process of
290 the daemon after start-up of the
291 service. systemd will not write to the
292 file configured here.</para>
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293 </listitem>
294 </varlistentry>
295
296 <varlistentry>
297 <term><varname>BusName=</varname></term>
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298
299 <listitem><para>Takes a D-Bus bus
bcddd5bf 300 name that this service is reachable
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301 as. This option is mandatory for
302 services where
303 <varname>Type=</varname> is set to
304 <option>dbus</option>, but its use
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305 is otherwise recommended if the process
306 takes a name on the D-Bus bus.</para>
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307 </listitem>
308 </varlistentry>
309
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310 <varlistentry>
311 <term><varname>BusPolicy=</varname></term>
312
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313 <listitem><para>If specified, a custom
314 <ulink url="https://code.google.com/p/d-bus/">kdbus</ulink>
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315 endpoint will be created and installed as the
316 default bus node for the service. Such a custom
317 endpoint can hold an own set of policy rules
318 that are enforced on top of the bus-wide ones.
319 The custom endpoint is named after the service
320 it was created for, and its node will be
321 bind-mounted over the default bus node
322 location, so the service can only access the
323 bus through its own endpoint. Note that custom
324 bus endpoints default to a 'deny all' policy.
325 Hence, if at least one
326 <varname>BusPolicy=</varname> directive is
327 given, you have to make sure to add explicit
328 rules for everything the service should be able
329 to do.</para>
330 <para>The value of this directive is comprised
331 of two parts; the bus name, and a verb to
332 specify to granted access, which is one of
333 <option>see</option>,
9c77924c 334 <option>talk</option>, or
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335 <option>own</option>.
336 <option>talk</option> implies
337 <option>see</option>, and <option>own</option>
338 implies both <option>talk</option> and
339 <option>see</option>.
340 If multiple access levels are specified for the
341 same bus name, the most powerful one takes
342 effect.
343 </para>
344 <para>Examples:</para>
345 <programlisting>BusPolicy=org.freedesktop.systemd1 talk</programlisting>
346 <programlisting>BusPolicy=org.foo.bar see</programlisting>
347 <para>This option is only available on kdbus enabled systems.</para>
348 </listitem>
349 </varlistentry>
350
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351 <varlistentry>
352 <term><varname>ExecStart=</varname></term>
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353 <listitem><para>Commands with their
354 arguments that are executed when this
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355 service is started. The value is split
356 into zero or more command lines is
357 according to the rules described below
358 (see section "Command Lines" below).
359 </para>
2480f0c6 360
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361 <para>When <varname>Type</varname> is
362 not <option>oneshot</option>, only one
96fb8242 363 command may and must be given. When
b1690fe7 364 <varname>Type=oneshot</varname> is
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365 used, zero or more commands may be
366 specified. This can be specified by
367 providing multiple command lines in
97426dcf 368 the same directive, or alternatively,
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369 this directive may be specified more
370 than once with the same effect. If the
371 empty string is assigned to this
372 option, the list of commands to start
373 is reset, prior assignments of this
374 option will have no effect. If no
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375 <varname>ExecStart=</varname> is
376 specified, then the service must have
377 <varname>RemainAfterExit=yes</varname>
378 set.</para>
2480f0c6 379
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380 <para>For each of the specified
381 commands, the first argument must be
382 an absolute and literal path to an
383 executable. Optionally, if the
384 absolute file name is prefixed with
385 <literal>@</literal>, the second token
386 will be passed as
387 <literal>argv[0]</literal> to the
388 executed process, followed by the
389 further arguments specified. If the
390 absolute filename is prefixed with
391 <literal>-</literal>, an exit code of
392 the command normally considered a
393 failure (i.e. non-zero exit status or
394 abnormal exit due to signal) is
395 ignored and considered success. If
396 both <literal>-</literal> and
397 <literal>@</literal> are used, they
398 can appear in either order.</para>
ec6039bc 399
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400 <para>If more than one command is
401 specified, the commands are invoked
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402 sequentially in the order they appear
403 in the unit file. If one of the
404 commands fails (and is not prefixed
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405 with <literal>-</literal>), other
406 lines are not executed, and the unit
407 is considered failed.</para>
4c42e8e1 408
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409 <para>Unless
410 <varname>Type=forking</varname> is
411 set, the process started via this
412 command line will be considered the
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413 main process of the daemon.</para>
414
ec6039bc 415 </listitem>
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416 </varlistentry>
417
418 <varlistentry>
419 <term><varname>ExecStartPre=</varname></term>
420 <term><varname>ExecStartPost=</varname></term>
421 <listitem><para>Additional commands
16dad32e 422 that are executed before or after
0d624a78 423 the command in
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424 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, respectively.
425 Syntax is the same as for
426 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, except
427 that multiple command lines are allowed
428 and the commands are executed one
429 after the other, serially.</para>
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430
431 <para>If any of those commands (not
909f413d 432 prefixed with <literal>-</literal>)
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433 fail, the rest are not executed and
434 the unit is considered failed.</para>
2480f0c6 435 </listitem>
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436 </varlistentry>
437
438 <varlistentry>
439 <term><varname>ExecReload=</varname></term>
440 <listitem><para>Commands to execute to
441 trigger a configuration reload in the
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442 service. This argument takes multiple
443 command lines, following the same
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444 scheme as described for
445 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>
b3eaa628 446 above. Use of this setting is
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447 optional. Specifier and environment
448 variable substitution is supported
449 here following the same scheme as for
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450 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>.</para>
451
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452 <para>One additional, special
453 environment variable is set: if known,
4c42e8e1 454 <varname>$MAINPID</varname> is set to
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455 the main process of the daemon, and
456 may be used for command lines like the
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457 following:</para>
458
459 <programlisting>/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID</programlisting>
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460
461 <para>Note however that reloading a
462 daemon by sending a signal (as with
463 the example line above) is usually not
464 a good choice, because this is an
465 asynchronous operation and hence not
466 suitable to order reloads of multiple
467 services against each other. It is
468 strongly recommended to set
469 <varname>ExecReload=</varname> to a
851fafe5 470 command that not only triggers a
33169701 471 configuration reload of the daemon,
851fafe5 472 but also synchronously waits for it to
33169701 473 complete.</para>
4c42e8e1 474 </listitem>
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475 </varlistentry>
476
477 <varlistentry>
478 <term><varname>ExecStop=</varname></term>
479 <listitem><para>Commands to execute to
480 stop the service started via
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481 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>. This
482 argument takes multiple command lines,
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483 following the same scheme as described
484 for <varname>ExecStart=</varname>
b3eaa628 485 above. Use of this setting is
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486 optional. After the commands configured
487 in this option are run, all processes
488 remaining for a service are
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489 terminated according to the
490 <varname>KillMode=</varname> setting
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491 (see
492 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>). If
79640424 493 this option is not specified, the
bcddd5bf 494 process is terminated immediately when
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495 service stop is requested. Specifier
496 and environment variable substitution
497 is supported (including
4c42e8e1 498 <varname>$MAINPID</varname>, see
420a0166 499 above).</para></listitem>
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500 </varlistentry>
501
502 <varlistentry>
503 <term><varname>ExecStopPost=</varname></term>
504 <listitem><para>Additional commands
505 that are executed after the service
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506 was stopped. This includes cases where
507 the commands configured in
508 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> were used,
6b4991cf 509 where the service does not have any
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510 <varname>ExecStop=</varname> defined, or
511 where the service exited unexpectedly. This
b3eaa628 512 argument takes multiple command lines,
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513 following the same scheme as described
514 for <varname>ExecStart</varname>. Use
b3eaa628 515 of these settings is
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516 optional. Specifier and environment
517 variable substitution is
518 supported.</para></listitem>
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519 </varlistentry>
520
521 <varlistentry>
522 <term><varname>RestartSec=</varname></term>
523 <listitem><para>Configures the time to
524 sleep before restarting a service (as
525 configured with
526 <varname>Restart=</varname>). Takes a
527 unit-less value in seconds, or a time
528 span value such as "5min
529 20s". Defaults to
530 100ms.</para></listitem>
531 </varlistentry>
532
533 <varlistentry>
d568a335 534 <term><varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname></term>
0d624a78 535 <listitem><para>Configures the time to
d568a335 536 wait for start-up. If a
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537 daemon service does not signal
538 start-up completion within the
d568a335 539 configured time, the service will be
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540 considered failed and will be shut
541 down again.
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542 Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a
543 time span value such as "5min
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544 20s". Pass <literal>0</literal> to
545 disable the timeout logic. Defaults to
5e34b37c 546 <varname>DefaultTimeoutStartSec=</varname> from
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547 the manager configuration file, except
548 when <varname>Type=oneshot</varname> is
63ba209d 549 used, in which case the timeout
5e34b37c 550 is disabled by default
97426dcf 551 (see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
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552 </para></listitem>
553 </varlistentry>
554
555 <varlistentry>
556 <term><varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname></term>
557 <listitem><para>Configures the time to
558 wait for stop. If a service is asked
bcddd5bf 559 to stop, but does not terminate in the
d568a335 560 specified time, it will be terminated
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561 forcibly via <constant>SIGTERM</constant>,
562 and after another timeout of equal duration
563 with <constant>SIGKILL</constant> (see
62adf224 564 <varname>KillMode=</varname>
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565 in <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
566 Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a
0d624a78 567 time span value such as "5min
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568 20s". Pass <literal>0</literal> to disable
569 the timeout logic. Defaults to
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570 <varname>DefaultTimeoutStopSec=</varname> from the
571 manager configuration file
97426dcf 572 (see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
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573 </para></listitem>
574 </varlistentry>
575
576 <varlistentry>
577 <term><varname>TimeoutSec=</varname></term>
578 <listitem><para>A shorthand for configuring
579 both <varname>TimeoutStartSec=</varname>
580 and <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>
581 to the specified value.
582 </para></listitem>
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583 </varlistentry>
584
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585 <varlistentry>
586 <term><varname>WatchdogSec=</varname></term>
e8ab3ccb 587 <listitem><para>Configures the
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588 watchdog timeout for a service. The
589 watchdog is activated when the start-up is
e8ab3ccb 590 completed. The service must call
bb242b7b 591 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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592 regularly with <literal>WATCHDOG=1</literal>
593 (i.e. the "keep-alive ping"). If the time
dac051ad 594 between two such calls is larger than
79640424 595 the configured time, then the service
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596 is placed in a failed state and it will
597 be terminated with <varname>SIGABRT</varname>.
598 By setting <varname>Restart=</varname> to
dac051ad 599 <option>on-failure</option> or
79640424 600 <option>always</option>, the service
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601 will be automatically restarted. The
602 time configured here will be passed to
603 the executed service process in the
604 <varname>WATCHDOG_USEC=</varname>
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605 environment variable. This allows
606 daemons to automatically enable the
607 keep-alive pinging logic if watchdog
608 support is enabled for the service. If
79640424 609 this option is used,
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610 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> (see
611 below) should be set to open access to
612 the notification socket provided by
613 systemd. If
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614 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> is
615 not set, it will be implicitly set to
02c4ef9c 616 <option>main</option>. Defaults to 0,
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617 which disables this
618 feature.</para></listitem>
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619 </varlistentry>
620
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621 <varlistentry>
622 <term><varname>Restart=</varname></term>
623 <listitem><para>Configures whether the
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624 service shall be restarted when the
625 service process exits, is killed,
626 or a timeout is reached. The service
627 process may be the main service
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628 process, but it may also be one of the
629 processes specified with
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630 <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
631 <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
c32acc96 632 <varname>ExecStop=</varname>,
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633 <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname>, or
634 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>.
635 When the death of the process is a
636 result of systemd operation (e.g. service
637 stop or restart), the service will not be
638 restarted. Timeouts include missing
639 the watchdog "keep-alive ping"
640 deadline and a service start, reload,
641 and stop operation timeouts.</para>
642
643 <para>Takes one of
525ee6f4 644 <option>no</option>,
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645 <option>on-success</option>,
646 <option>on-failure</option>,
6cfe2fde 647 <option>on-abnormal</option>,
dc99a976 648 <option>on-watchdog</option>,
a827e373 649 <option>on-abort</option>, or
50caaedb 650 <option>always</option>. If set to
79640424 651 <option>no</option> (the default), the
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652 service will not be restarted. If set
653 to <option>on-success</option>, it
654 will be restarted only when the
655 service process exits cleanly. In
656 this context, a clean exit means an
657 exit code of 0, or one of the signals
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658 <constant>SIGHUP</constant>,
659 <constant>SIGINT</constant>,
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660 <constant>SIGTERM</constant> or
661 <constant>SIGPIPE</constant>, and
662 additionally, exit statuses and
663 signals specified in
664 <varname>SuccessExitStatus=</varname>.
79640424 665 If set to <option>on-failure</option>,
a827e373 666 the service will be restarted when the
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667 process exits with a non-zero exit
668 code, is terminated by a signal
669 (including on core dump, but excluding
670 the aforementiond four signals), when
671 an operation (such as service reload)
672 times out, and when the configured
673 watchdog timeout is triggered. If set
674 to <option>on-abnormal</option>, the
675 service will be restarted when the
676 process is terminated by a signal
677 (including on core dump, excluding the
678 aforementioned four signals), when an
679 operation times out, or when the
680 watchdog timeout is triggered. If set
681 to <option>on-abort</option>, the
682 service will be restarted only if the
683 service process exits due to an
684 uncaught signal not specified as a
685 clean exit status. If set to
686 <option>on-watchdog</option>, the
687 service will be restarted only if the
688 watchdog timeout for the service
689 expires. If set to
79640424 690 <option>always</option>, the service
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691 will be restarted regardless of
692 whether it exited cleanly or not, got
bcddd5bf 693 terminated abnormally by a signal, or
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694 hit a timeout.</para>
695
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696 <table>
697 <title>Exit causes and the effect of the <varname>Restart=</varname> settings on them</title>
698
699 <tgroup cols='2'>
700 <colspec colname='path' />
701 <colspec colname='expl' />
702 <thead>
703 <row>
704 <entry>Restart settings/Exit causes</entry>
705 <entry><option>no</option></entry>
706 <entry><option>always</option></entry>
707 <entry><option>on-success</option></entry>
708 <entry><option>on-failure</option></entry>
709 <entry><option>on-abnormal</option></entry>
710 <entry><option>on-abort</option></entry>
711 <entry><option>on-watchdog</option></entry>
712 </row>
713 </thead>
714 <tbody>
715 <row>
716 <entry>Clean exit code or signal</entry>
717 <entry/>
718 <entry>X</entry>
719 <entry>X</entry>
720 <entry/>
721 <entry/>
722 <entry/>
723 <entry/>
724 </row>
725 <row>
726 <entry>Unclean exit code</entry>
727 <entry/>
728 <entry>X</entry>
729 <entry/>
730 <entry>X</entry>
731 <entry/>
732 <entry/>
733 <entry/>
734 </row>
735 <row>
736 <entry>Unclean signal</entry>
737 <entry/>
738 <entry>X</entry>
739 <entry/>
740 <entry>X</entry>
741 <entry>X</entry>
742 <entry>X</entry>
743 <entry/>
744 </row>
745 <row>
746 <entry>Timeout</entry>
747 <entry/>
748 <entry>X</entry>
749 <entry/>
750 <entry>X</entry>
751 <entry>X</entry>
752 <entry/>
753 <entry/>
754 </row>
755 <row>
756 <entry>Watchdog</entry>
757 <entry/>
758 <entry>X</entry>
759 <entry/>
760 <entry>X</entry>
761 <entry>X</entry>
762 <entry/>
763 <entry>X</entry>
764 </row>
765 </tbody>
766 </tgroup>
767 </table>
768
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769 <para>As exceptions to the setting
770 above the service will not be
771 restarted if the exit code or signal
772 is specified in
a827e373 773 <varname>RestartPreventExitStatus=</varname>
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774 (see below). Also, the services will
775 always be restarted if the exit code
776 or signal is specified in
777 <varname>RestartForceExitStatus=</varname>
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778 (see below).</para>
779
780 <para>Setting this to
781 <option>on-failure</option> is the
782 recommended choice for long-running
783 services, in order to increase
784 reliability by attempting automatic
785 recovery from errors. For services
786 that shall be able to terminate on
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787 their own choice (and avoid
788 immediate restarting),
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789 <option>on-abnormal</option> is an
790 alternative choice.</para>
791 </listitem>
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792 </varlistentry>
793
96342de6 794 <varlistentry>
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795 <term><varname>SuccessExitStatus=</varname></term>
796 <listitem><para>Takes a list of exit
797 status definitions that when returned
798 by the main service process will be
799 considered successful termination, in
800 addition to the normal successful exit
05cc7267 801 code 0 and the signals <constant>SIGHUP</constant>, <constant>SIGINT</constant>,
a9a30533 802 <constant>SIGTERM</constant>, and <constant>SIGPIPE</constant>. Exit status
abdf7993 803 definitions can either be numeric exit
a827e373 804 codes or termination signal names,
4a3fa6ac 805 separated by spaces. For example:
37520c1b 806 <programlisting>SuccessExitStatus=1 2 8 SIGKILL</programlisting>
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807 ensures that exit codes 1, 2, 8 and
808 the termination signal
809 <constant>SIGKILL</constant> are
810 considered clean service terminations.
811 </para>
812
813 <para>Note that if a process has a
814 signal handler installed and exits by
815 calling
816 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>_exit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
817 in response to a signal, the
818 information about the signal is lost.
819 Programs should instead perform cleanup and kill themselves with the same signal instead. See
820 <ulink url="http://www.cons.org/cracauer/sigint.html">Proper handling of SIGINT/SIGQUIT — How to be a proper program</ulink>.</para>
821
822 <para>This option may appear more than once,
823 in which case the list of successful
824 exit statuses is merged. If the empty
825 string is assigned to this option, the
826 list is reset, all prior assignments
827 of this option will have no
828 effect.</para></listitem>
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829 </varlistentry>
830
831 <varlistentry>
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832 <term><varname>RestartPreventExitStatus=</varname></term>
833 <listitem><para>Takes a list of exit
834 status definitions that when returned
835 by the main service process will
bcddd5bf 836 prevent automatic service restarts,
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837 regardless of the restart setting
838 configured with
839 <varname>Restart=</varname>. Exit
840 status definitions can either be
841 numeric exit codes or termination
842 signal names, and are separated by
843 spaces. Defaults to the empty list, so
bcddd5bf 844 that, by default, no exit status is
abdf7993 845 excluded from the configured restart
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846 logic. For example:
847 <programlisting>RestartPreventExitStatus=1 6 SIGABRT</programlisting> ensures that exit
74051b9b 848 codes 1 and 6 and the termination
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849 signal <constant>SIGABRT</constant> will
850 not result in automatic service
851 restarting. This
852 option may appear more than once, in
853 which case the list of restart-preventing
74051b9b 854 statuses is merged. If the empty
79640424 855 string is assigned to this option, the
bcddd5bf 856 list is reset and all prior assignments
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857 of this option will have no
858 effect.</para></listitem>
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859 </varlistentry>
860
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861 <varlistentry>
862 <term><varname>RestartForceExitStatus=</varname></term>
863 <listitem><para>Takes a list of exit
864 status definitions that when returned
865 by the main service process will force
866 automatic service restarts, regardless
867 of the restart setting configured with
868 <varname>Restart=</varname>. The
869 argument format is similar to
870 <varname>RestartPreventExitStatus=</varname>.</para></listitem>
871 </varlistentry>
872
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873 <varlistentry>
874 <term><varname>PermissionsStartOnly=</varname></term>
875 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
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876 argument. If true, the permission-related
877 execution options, as
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878 configured with
879 <varname>User=</varname> and similar
880 options (see
881 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
bcddd5bf 882 for more information), are only applied
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883 to the process started with
884 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, and not
885 to the various other
886 <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
887 <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
888 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>,
bcddd5bf 889 <varname>ExecStop=</varname>, and
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890 <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname>
891 commands. If false, the setting is
892 applied to all configured commands the
893 same way. Defaults to
894 false.</para></listitem>
895 </varlistentry>
896
897 <varlistentry>
898 <term><varname>RootDirectoryStartOnly=</varname></term>
899 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
bcddd5bf 900 argument. If true, the root directory,
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901 as configured with the
902 <varname>RootDirectory=</varname>
903 option (see
904 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
bcddd5bf 905 for more information), is only applied
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906 to the process started with
907 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>, and not
908 to the various other
909 <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
910 <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
911 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>,
bcddd5bf 912 <varname>ExecStop=</varname>, and
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913 <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname>
914 commands. If false, the setting is
915 applied to all configured commands the
916 same way. Defaults to
917 false.</para></listitem>
918 </varlistentry>
919
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920 <varlistentry>
921 <term><varname>NonBlocking=</varname></term>
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922 <listitem><para>Set the
923 <constant>O_NONBLOCK</constant> flag
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924 for all file descriptors passed via
925 socket-based activation. If true, all
926 file descriptors >= 3 (i.e. all except
6db27428 927 stdin, stdout, and stderr) will have
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928 the <constant>O_NONBLOCK</constant> flag
929 set and hence are in
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930 non-blocking mode. This option is only
931 useful in conjunction with a socket
932 unit, as described in
933 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. Defaults
934 to false.</para></listitem>
935 </varlistentry>
936
937 <varlistentry>
938 <term><varname>NotifyAccess=</varname></term>
939 <listitem><para>Controls access to the
940 service status notification socket, as
941 accessible via the
942 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
943 call. Takes one of
944 <option>none</option> (the default),
945 <option>main</option> or
946 <option>all</option>. If
79640424 947 <option>none</option>, no daemon status
f8553ccb 948 updates are accepted from the service
0d624a78 949 processes, all status update messages
79640424 950 are ignored. If <option>main</option>,
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951 only service updates sent from the
952 main process of the service are
79640424 953 accepted. If <option>all</option>, all
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954 services updates from all members of
955 the service's control group are
02c4ef9c 956 accepted. This option should be set to
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957 open access to the notification socket
958 when using
02c4ef9c 959 <varname>Type=notify</varname> or
28137202 960 <varname>WatchdogSec=</varname> (see
02c4ef9c 961 above). If those options are used but
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962 <varname>NotifyAccess=</varname> is not
963 configured, it will be implicitly set
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964 to
965 <option>main</option>.</para></listitem>
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966 </varlistentry>
967
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968 <varlistentry>
969 <term><varname>Sockets=</varname></term>
970 <listitem><para>Specifies the name of
971 the socket units this service shall
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972 inherit socket file descriptors
973 from when the service is
974 started. Normally it should not be
975 necessary to use this setting as all
976 socket file descriptors whose unit
f72192c0 977 shares the same name as the service
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978 (subject to the different unit name
979 suffix of course) are passed to the
980 spawned process.</para>
981
982 <para>Note that the same socket file
983 descriptors may be passed to multiple
984 processes simultaneously. Also note
985 that a different service may be
986 activated on incoming socket traffic
987 than the one which is ultimately
988 configured to inherit the socket file
989 descriptors. Or in other words: the
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990 <varname>Service=</varname> setting of
991 <filename>.socket</filename> units
6b4991cf 992 does not have to match the inverse of
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993 the <varname>Sockets=</varname>
994 setting of the
995 <filename>.service</filename> it
996 refers to.</para>
997
998 <para>This option may appear more than
999 once, in which case the list of socket
1000 units is merged. If the empty string
79640424 1001 is assigned to this option, the list of
bcddd5bf 1002 sockets is reset, and all prior uses of
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1003 this setting will have no
1004 effect.</para></listitem>
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1005 </varlistentry>
1006
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1007 <varlistentry>
1008 <term><varname>StartLimitInterval=</varname></term>
1009 <term><varname>StartLimitBurst=</varname></term>
1010
1011 <listitem><para>Configure service
79640424 1012 start rate limiting. By default,
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1013 services which are started more
1014 than 5 times within 10 seconds are not
092317d0 1015 permitted to start any more times
bcddd5bf 1016 until the 10 second interval ends. With
79640424 1017 these two options, this rate limiting
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1018 may be modified. Use
1019 <varname>StartLimitInterval=</varname>
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1020 to configure the checking interval (defaults to
1021 <varname>DefaultStartLimitInterval=</varname> in
1022 manager configuration file, set to 0 to disable
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1023 any kind of rate limiting). Use
1024 <varname>StartLimitBurst=</varname> to
1025 configure how many starts per interval
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1026 are allowed (defaults to
1027 <varname>DefaultStartLimitBurst=</varname> in
1028 manager configuration file). These
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1029 configuration options are particularly
1030 useful in conjunction with
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1031 <varname>Restart=</varname>; however,
1032 they apply to all kinds of starts
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1033 (including manual), not just those
1034 triggered by the
1035 <varname>Restart=</varname> logic.
1036 Note that units which are configured
1037 for <varname>Restart=</varname> and
1038 which reach the start limit are not
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1039 attempted to be restarted anymore;
1040 however, they may still be restarted
1041 manually at a later point, from which
1042 point on, the restart logic is again
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1043 activated. Note that
1044 <command>systemctl
1045 reset-failed</command> will cause the
1046 restart rate counter for a service to
1047 be flushed, which is useful if the
1048 administrator wants to manually start
1049 a service and the start limit
1050 interferes with
1051 that.</para></listitem>
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1052 </varlistentry>
1053
1054 <varlistentry>
1055 <term><varname>StartLimitAction=</varname></term>
1056
1057 <listitem><para>Configure the action
1058 to take if the rate limit configured
1059 with
1060 <varname>StartLimitInterval=</varname>
1061 and
1062 <varname>StartLimitBurst=</varname> is
1063 hit. Takes one of
1064 <option>none</option>,
1065 <option>reboot</option>,
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1066 <option>reboot-force</option>,
1067 <option>reboot-immediate</option>,
1068 <option>poweroff</option>,
1069 <option>poweroff-force</option> or
1070 <option>poweroff-immediate</option>. If
1071 <option>none</option> is set, hitting
1072 the rate limit will trigger no action
1073 besides that the start will not be
1074 permitted. <option>reboot</option>
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1075 causes a reboot following the normal
1076 shutdown procedure (i.e. equivalent to
bcddd5bf 1077 <command>systemctl reboot</command>).
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1078 <option>reboot-force</option> causes a
1079 forced reboot which will terminate all
1080 processes forcibly but should cause no
1081 dirty file systems on reboot
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1082 (i.e. equivalent to <command>systemctl
1083 reboot -f</command>) and
1084 <option>reboot-immediate</option>
1085 causes immediate execution of the
1086 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>reboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1087 system call, which might result in
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1088 data loss. Similar,
1089 <option>poweroff</option>,
1090 <option>poweroff-force</option>,
1091 <option>poweroff-immediate</option>
1092 have the effect of powering down the
1093 system with similar
1094 semantics. Defaults to
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1095 <option>none</option>.</para></listitem>
1096 </varlistentry>
1097
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1098 <varlistentry>
1099 <term><varname>FailureAction=</varname></term>
1100 <listitem><para>Configure the action
1101 to take when the service enters a failed
1102 state. Takes the same values as
1103 <varname>StartLimitAction=</varname>
1104 and executes the same actions.
1105 Defaults to <option>none</option>.
1106 </para></listitem>
1107 </varlistentry>
1108
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1109 <varlistentry>
1110 <term><varname>RebootArgument=</varname></term>
1111 <listitem><para>Configure the optional
1112 argument for the
1113 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>reboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1114 system call if
1115 <varname>StartLimitAction=</varname>
2928b0a8 1116 or <varname>FailureAction=</varname>
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1117 is a reboot action. This works just
1118 like the optional argument to
1119 <command>systemctl reboot</command>
1120 command.</para></listitem>
1121 </varlistentry>
1122
d1ab0ca0 1123 </variablelist>
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1124
1125 <para>Check
1126 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1127 and
1128 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1129 for more settings.</para>
1130
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1131 </refsect1>
1132
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1133 <refsect1>
1134 <title>Command lines</title>
1135
1136 <para>This section describes command line parsing and
1137 variable and specifier substitions for
1138 <varname>ExecStart=</varname>,
1139 <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
1140 <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
1141 <varname>ExecReload=</varname>,
1142 <varname>ExecStop=</varname>, and
1143 <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> options.</para>
1144
1145 <para>Multiple command lines may be concatenated in a
1146 single directive by separating them with semicolons
1147 (these semicolons must be passed as separate words).
1148 Lone semicolons may be escaped as
1149 <literal>\;</literal>.</para>
1150
1151 <para>Each command line is split on whitespace, with
1152 the first item being the command to execute, and the
1153 subsequent items being the arguments. Double quotes
1154 ("...") and single quotes ('...') may be used, in
1155 which case everything until the next matching quote
1156 becomes part of the same argument. Quotes themselves
1157 are removed after parsing. In addition, a trailing
1158 backslash (<literal>\</literal>) may be used to merge
1159 lines. </para>
1160
1161 <para>This syntax is intended to be very similar to
1162 shell syntax, but only the meta-characters and
1163 expansions described in the following paragraphs are
1164 understood. Specifically, redirection using
1165 <literal>&lt;</literal>, <literal>&lt;&lt;</literal>,
1166 <literal>&gt;</literal>, and
1167 <literal>&gt;&gt;</literal>, pipes using
1168 <literal>|</literal>, running programs in the
1169 background using <literal>&amp;</literal>, and
1170 <emphasis>other elements of shell syntax are not
1171 supported</emphasis>.</para>
1172
1173 <para>The command line accepts <literal>%</literal>
1174 specifiers as described in
1175 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
1176 Note that the first argument of the command line
1177 (i.e. the program to execute) may not include
1178 specifiers.</para>
1179
1180 <para>Basic environment variable substitution is
1181 supported. Use <literal>${FOO}</literal> as part of a
1182 word, or as a word of its own, on the command line, in
1183 which case it will be replaced by the value of the
1184 environment variable including all whitespace it
1185 contains, resulting in a single argument. Use
1186 <literal>$FOO</literal> as a separate word on the
1187 command line, in which case it will be replaced by the
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1188 value of the environment variable split at whitespace
1189 resulting in zero or more arguments. For this type of
1190 expansion, quotes and respected when splitting into
1191 words, and afterwards removed.</para>
1192
1193 <para>Example:</para>
1194
1195 <programlisting>Environment="ONE=one" 'TWO=two two'
1196ExecStart=/bin/echo $ONE $TWO ${TWO}</programlisting>
1197
1198 <para>This will execute <command>/bin/echo</command>
1199 with four arguments: <literal>one</literal>,
1200 <literal>two</literal>, <literal>two</literal>, and
1201 <literal>two two</literal>.</para>
1202
1203 <para>Example:</para>
1204 <programlisting>Environment=ONE='one' "TWO='two two' too" THREE=
1205ExecStart=/bin/echo ${ONE} ${TWO} ${THREE}
1206ExecStart=/bin/echo $ONE $TWO $THREE</programlisting>
1207 <para>This results in <filename>echo</filename> being
1208 called twice, the first time with arguments
1209 <literal>'one'</literal>,
1210 <literal>'two two' too</literal>, <literal></literal>,
1211 and the second time with arguments
1212 <literal>one</literal>, <literal>two two</literal>,
1213 <literal>too</literal>.
1214 </para>
1215
1216 <para>To pass a literal dollar sign, use
1217 <literal>$$</literal>. Variables whose value is not
1218 known at expansion time are treated as empty
1219 strings. Note that the first argument (i.e. the
1220 program to execute) may not be a variable.</para>
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1221
1222 <para>Variables to be used in this fashion may be
1223 defined through <varname>Environment=</varname> and
1224 <varname>EnvironmentFile=</varname>. In addition,
1225 variables listed in the section "Environment variables
1226 in spawned processes" in
1227 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1228 which are considered "static configuration", may be
1229 used (this includes e.g. <varname>$USER</varname>, but
1230 not <varname>$TERM</varname>).</para>
1231
1232 <para>Note that shell command lines are not directly
1233 supported. If shell command lines are to be used, they
1234 need to be passed explicitly to a shell implementation
1235 of some kind. Example:</para>
1236 <programlisting>ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'dmesg | tac'</programlisting>
1237
1238 <para>Example:</para>
1239
1240 <programlisting>ExecStart=/bin/echo one ; /bin/echo "two two"</programlisting>
1241
1242 <para>This will execute <command>/bin/echo</command>
1243 two times, each time with one argument:
1244 <literal>one</literal> and <literal>two two</literal>,
1245 respectively. Because two commands are specified,
1246 <varname>Type=oneshot</varname> must be used.</para>
1247
1248 <para>Example:</para>
1249
1250 <programlisting>ExecStart=/bin/echo / &gt;/dev/null &amp; \; \
1251/bin/ls</programlisting>
1252
1253 <para>This will execute <command>/bin/echo</command>
1254 with five arguments: <literal>/</literal>,
1255 <literal>&gt;/dev/null</literal>,
1256 <literal>&amp;</literal>, <literal>;</literal>, and
1257 <literal>/bin/ls</literal>.</para>
30d88d54 1258 </refsect1>
c485d3ba 1259
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1260 <refsect1>
1261 <title>See Also</title>
1262 <para>
f3e219a2 1263 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
67826132 1264 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
0d624a78 1265 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
4819ff03 1266 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
3fde5f30 1267 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
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1268 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1269 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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1270 </para>
1271 </refsect1>
1272
1273</refentry>