]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/systemd.git/blob - man/systemd.unit.xml
5c8b8e88689469d741c38b01f059017a3466d927
[thirdparty/systemd.git] / man / systemd.unit.xml
1 <?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
4 <!ENTITY % entities SYSTEM "custom-entities.ent" >
5 %entities;
6 ]>
7
8 <!--
9 This file is part of systemd.
10
11 Copyright 2010 Lennart Poettering
12
13 systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
14 under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
15 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
16 (at your option) any later version.
17
18 systemd is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
19 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
20 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
21 Lesser General Public License for more details.
22
23 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
24 along with systemd; If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
25 -->
26
27 <refentry id="systemd.unit">
28
29 <refentryinfo>
30 <title>systemd.unit</title>
31 <productname>systemd</productname>
32
33 <authorgroup>
34 <author>
35 <contrib>Developer</contrib>
36 <firstname>Lennart</firstname>
37 <surname>Poettering</surname>
38 <email>lennart@poettering.net</email>
39 </author>
40 </authorgroup>
41 </refentryinfo>
42
43 <refmeta>
44 <refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle>
45 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
46 </refmeta>
47
48 <refnamediv>
49 <refname>systemd.unit</refname>
50 <refpurpose>Unit configuration</refpurpose>
51 </refnamediv>
52
53 <refsynopsisdiv>
54 <para><filename><replaceable>service</replaceable>.service</filename>,
55 <filename><replaceable>socket</replaceable>.socket</filename>,
56 <filename><replaceable>device</replaceable>.device</filename>,
57 <filename><replaceable>mount</replaceable>.mount</filename>,
58 <filename><replaceable>automount</replaceable>.automount</filename>,
59 <filename><replaceable>swap</replaceable>.swap</filename>,
60 <filename><replaceable>target</replaceable>.target</filename>,
61 <filename><replaceable>path</replaceable>.path</filename>,
62 <filename><replaceable>timer</replaceable>.timer</filename>,
63 <filename><replaceable>snapshot</replaceable>.snapshot</filename>,
64 <filename><replaceable>slice</replaceable>.slice</filename>,
65 <filename><replaceable>scope</replaceable>.scope</filename></para>
66
67 <para><literallayout><filename>/etc/systemd/system/*</filename>
68 <filename>/run/systemd/system/*</filename>
69 <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/system/*</filename>
70 <filename>...</filename>
71 </literallayout></para>
72
73 <para><literallayout><filename>$HOME/.config/systemd/user/*</filename>
74 <filename>/etc/systemd/user/*</filename>
75 <filename>/run/systemd/user/*</filename>
76 <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/user/*</filename>
77 <filename>...</filename>
78 </literallayout></para>
79 </refsynopsisdiv>
80
81 <refsect1>
82 <title>Description</title>
83
84 <para>A unit configuration file encodes information
85 about a service, a socket, a device, a mount point, an
86 automount point, a swap file or partition, a start-up
87 target, a watched file system path, a timer controlled
88 and supervised by
89 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
90 a temporary system state snapshot, a resource
91 management slice or a group of externally created
92 processes. The syntax is inspired by <ulink
93 url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/">XDG
94 Desktop Entry Specification</ulink>
95 <filename>.desktop</filename> files, which are in turn
96 inspired by Microsoft Windows
97 <filename>.ini</filename> files.</para>
98
99 <para>This man page lists the common configuration
100 options of all the unit types. These options need to
101 be configured in the [Unit] or [Install]
102 sections of the unit files.</para>
103
104 <para>In addition to the generic [Unit] and [Install]
105 sections described here, each unit may have a
106 type-specific section, e.g. [Service] for a service
107 unit. See the respective man pages for more
108 information:
109 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
110 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
111 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.device</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
112 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
113 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.automount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
114 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.swap</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
115 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.target</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
116 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.path</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
117 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
118 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.snapshot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
119 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.slice</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
120 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.scope</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
121 </para>
122
123 <para>Unit files are loaded from a set of paths
124 determined during compilation, described in the next section.
125 </para>
126
127 <para>Unit files may contain additional options on top
128 of those listed here. If systemd encounters an unknown
129 option, it will write a warning log message but
130 continue loading the unit. If an option is prefixed
131 with <option>X-</option>, it is ignored completely by
132 systemd. Applications may use this to include
133 additional information in the unit files.</para>
134
135 <para>Boolean arguments used in unit files can be
136 written in various formats. For positive settings the
137 strings <option>1</option>, <option>yes</option>,
138 <option>true</option> and <option>on</option> are
139 equivalent. For negative settings, the strings
140 <option>0</option>, <option>no</option>,
141 <option>false</option> and <option>off</option> are
142 equivalent.</para>
143
144 <para>Time span values encoded in unit files can be
145 written in various formats. A stand-alone number
146 specifies a time in seconds. If suffixed with a time
147 unit, the unit is honored. A concatenation of multiple
148 values with units is supported, in which case the
149 values are added up. Example: "50" refers to 50
150 seconds; "2min 200ms" refers to 2 minutes plus 200
151 milliseconds, i.e. 120200ms. The following time units
152 are understood: s, min, h, d, w, ms, us. For details
153 see
154 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
155
156 <para>Empty lines and lines starting with # or ; are
157 ignored. This may be used for commenting. Lines ending
158 in a backslash are concatenated with the following
159 line while reading and the backslash is replaced by a
160 space character. This may be used to wrap long lines.</para>
161
162 <para>Along with a unit file
163 <filename>foo.service</filename>, the directory
164 <filename>foo.service.wants/</filename> may exist. All
165 unit files symlinked from such a directory are
166 implicitly added as dependencies of type
167 <varname>Wanted=</varname> to the unit. This is useful
168 to hook units into the start-up of other units,
169 without having to modify their unit files. For details
170 about the semantics of <varname>Wanted=</varname>, see
171 below. The preferred way to create symlinks in the
172 <filename>.wants/</filename> directory of a unit file
173 is with the <command>enable</command> command of the
174 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
175 tool which reads information from the [Install]
176 section of unit files (see below). A similar
177 functionality exists for <varname>Requires=</varname>
178 type dependencies as well, the directory suffix is
179 <filename>.requires/</filename> in this case.</para>
180
181 <para>Along with a unit file
182 <filename>foo.service</filename>, a directory
183 <filename>foo.service.d/</filename> may exist. All
184 files with the suffix <literal>.conf</literal> from
185 this directory will be parsed after the file itself is
186 parsed. This is useful to alter or add configuration
187 settings to a unit, without having to modify their
188 unit files. Make sure that the file that is included
189 has the appropriate section headers before any
190 directive.</para>
191
192 <para>If a line starts with <option>.include</option>
193 followed by a filename, the specified file will be
194 parsed at this point. Make sure that the file that is
195 included has the appropriate section headers before
196 any directives.</para>
197
198 <para>Note that while systemd offers a flexible
199 dependency system between units it is recommended to
200 use this functionality only sparingly and instead rely
201 on techniques such as bus-based or socket-based
202 activation which make dependencies implicit, resulting
203 in a both simpler and more flexible system.</para>
204
205 <para>Some unit names reflect paths existing in the
206 file system namespace. Example: a device unit
207 <filename>dev-sda.device</filename> refers to a device
208 with the device node <filename noindex='true'>/dev/sda</filename> in
209 the file system namespace. If this applies, a special
210 way to escape the path name is used, so that the
211 result is usable as part of a filename. Basically,
212 given a path, "/" is replaced by "-", and all
213 unprintable characters and the "-" are replaced by
214 C-style "\x20" escapes. The root directory "/" is
215 encoded as single dash, while otherwise the initial
216 and ending "/" is removed from all paths during
217 transformation. This escaping is reversible.</para>
218
219 <para>Optionally, units may be instantiated from a
220 template file at runtime. This allows creation of
221 multiple units from a single configuration file. If
222 systemd looks for a unit configuration file, it will
223 first search for the literal unit name in the
224 filesystem. If that yields no success and the unit
225 name contains an <literal>@</literal> character, systemd will look for a
226 unit template that shares the same name but with the
227 instance string (i.e. the part between the <literal>@</literal> character
228 and the suffix) removed. Example: if a service
229 <filename>getty@tty3.service</filename> is requested
230 and no file by that name is found, systemd will look
231 for <filename>getty@.service</filename> and
232 instantiate a service from that configuration file if
233 it is found.</para>
234
235 <para>To refer to the instance string from
236 within the configuration file you may use the special
237 <literal>%i</literal> specifier in many of the
238 configuration options. See below for details.</para>
239
240 <para>If a unit file is empty (i.e. has the file size
241 0) or is symlinked to <filename>/dev/null</filename>,
242 its configuration will not be loaded and it appears
243 with a load state of <literal>masked</literal>, and
244 cannot be activated. Use this as an effective way to
245 fully disable a unit, making it impossible to start it
246 even manually.</para>
247
248 <para>The unit file format is covered by the
249 <ulink
250 url="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/InterfaceStabilityPromise">Interface
251 Stability Promise</ulink>.</para>
252
253 </refsect1>
254
255 <refsect1>
256 <title>Unit Load Path</title>
257
258 <para>Unit files are loaded from a set of paths
259 determined during compilation, described in the two
260 tables below. Unit files found in directories listed
261 earlier override files with the same name in
262 directories lower in the list.</para>
263
264 <para>When systemd is running in user mode
265 (<option>--user</option>) and the variable
266 <varname>$SYSTEMD_UNIT_PATH</varname> is set, this
267 contents of this variable overrides the unit load
268 path.
269 </para>
270
271 <table>
272 <title>
273 Load path when running in system mode (<option>--system</option>).
274 </title>
275
276 <tgroup cols='2'>
277 <colspec colname='path' />
278 <colspec colname='expl' />
279 <thead>
280 <row>
281 <entry>Path</entry>
282 <entry>Description</entry>
283 </row>
284 </thead>
285 <tbody>
286 <row>
287 <entry><filename>/etc/systemd/system</filename></entry>
288 <entry>Local configuration</entry>
289 </row>
290 <row>
291 <entry><filename>/run/systemd/system</filename></entry>
292 <entry>Runtime units</entry>
293 </row>
294 <row>
295 <entry><filename>/usr/lib/systemd/system</filename></entry>
296 <entry>Units of installed packages</entry>
297 </row>
298 </tbody>
299 </tgroup>
300 </table>
301
302 <table>
303 <title>
304 Load path when running in user mode (<option>--user</option>).
305 </title>
306
307 <tgroup cols='2'>
308 <colspec colname='path' />
309 <colspec colname='expl' />
310 <thead>
311 <row>
312 <entry>Path</entry>
313 <entry>Description</entry>
314 </row>
315 </thead>
316 <tbody>
317 <row>
318 <entry><filename>$HOME/.config/systemd/user</filename></entry>
319 <entry>User configuration</entry>
320 </row>
321 <row>
322 <entry><filename>/etc/systemd/user</filename></entry>
323 <entry>Local configuration</entry>
324 </row>
325 <row>
326 <entry><filename>/run/systemd/user</filename></entry>
327 <entry>Runtime units</entry>
328 </row>
329 <row>
330 <entry><filename>/usr/lib/systemd/user</filename></entry>
331 <entry>Units of installed packages</entry>
332 </row>
333 </tbody>
334 </tgroup>
335 </table>
336
337 <para>Additional units might be loaded into systemd
338 ("linked") from directories not on the unit load
339 path. See the <command>link</command> command for
340 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>. Also,
341 some units are dynamically created via generators
342 <ulink
343 url="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/Generators/">Generators</ulink>.
344 </para>
345 </refsect1>
346
347 <refsect1>
348 <title>Options</title>
349
350 <para>Unit file may include a [Unit] section, which
351 carries generic information about the unit that is not
352 dependent on the type of unit:</para>
353
354 <variablelist class='unit-directives'>
355
356 <varlistentry>
357 <term><varname>Description=</varname></term>
358 <listitem><para>A free-form string
359 describing the unit. This is intended
360 for use in UIs to show descriptive
361 information along with the unit
362 name. The description should contain a name
363 that means something to the end user.
364 <literal>Apache2 Web Server</literal> is a good
365 example. Bad examples are
366 <literal>high-performance light-weight HTTP
367 server</literal> (too generic) or
368 <literal>Apache2</literal> (too specific and
369 meaningless for people who do not know
370 Apache).</para></listitem>
371 </varlistentry>
372
373 <varlistentry>
374 <term><varname>Documentation=</varname></term>
375 <listitem><para>A space-separated list
376 of URIs referencing documentation for
377 this unit or its
378 configuration. Accepted are only URIs
379 of the types
380 <literal>http://</literal>,
381 <literal>https://</literal>,
382 <literal>file:</literal>,
383 <literal>info:</literal>,
384 <literal>man:</literal>. For more
385 information about the syntax of these
386 URIs, see
387 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>uri</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>. The
388 URIs should be listed in order of
389 relevance, starting with the most
390 relevant. It is a good idea to first
391 reference documentation that explains
392 what the unit's purpose is, followed
393 by how it is configured, followed by
394 any other related documentation. This
395 option may be specified more than once
396 in which case the specified list of
397 URIs is merged. If the empty string is
398 assigned to this option, the list is
399 reset and all prior assignments will
400 have no effect.</para></listitem>
401 </varlistentry>
402
403 <varlistentry>
404 <term><varname>Requires=</varname></term>
405
406 <listitem><para>Configures requirement
407 dependencies on other units. If this
408 unit gets activated, the units listed
409 here will be activated as well. If one
410 of the other units gets deactivated or
411 its activation fails, this unit will
412 be deactivated. This option may be
413 specified more than once, in which
414 case requirement dependencies for all
415 listed names are created. Note that
416 requirement dependencies do not
417 influence the order in which services
418 are started or stopped. This has to be
419 configured independently with the
420 <varname>After=</varname> or
421 <varname>Before=</varname> options. If
422 a unit
423 <filename>foo.service</filename>
424 requires a unit
425 <filename>bar.service</filename> as
426 configured with
427 <varname>Requires=</varname> and no
428 ordering is configured with
429 <varname>After=</varname> or
430 <varname>Before=</varname>, then both
431 units will be started simultaneously
432 and without any delay between them if
433 <filename>foo.service</filename> is
434 activated. Often it is a better choice
435 to use <varname>Wants=</varname>
436 instead of
437 <varname>Requires=</varname> in order
438 to achieve a system that is more
439 robust when dealing with failing
440 services.</para>
441
442 <para>Note that dependencies of this
443 type may also be configured outside of
444 the unit configuration file by
445 adding a symlink to a
446 <filename>.requires/</filename> directory
447 accompanying the unit file. For
448 details see above.</para></listitem>
449 </varlistentry>
450
451 <varlistentry>
452 <term><varname>RequiresOverridable=</varname></term>
453
454 <listitem><para>Similar to
455 <varname>Requires=</varname>.
456 Dependencies listed in
457 <varname>RequiresOverridable=</varname>
458 which cannot be fulfilled or fail to
459 start are ignored if the startup was
460 explicitly requested by the user. If
461 the start-up was pulled in indirectly
462 by some dependency or automatic
463 start-up of units that is not
464 requested by the user, this dependency
465 must be fulfilled and otherwise the
466 transaction fails. Hence, this option
467 may be used to configure dependencies
468 that are normally honored unless the
469 user explicitly starts up the unit, in
470 which case whether they failed or not
471 is irrelevant.</para></listitem>
472
473 </varlistentry>
474 <varlistentry>
475 <term><varname>Requisite=</varname></term>
476 <term><varname>RequisiteOverridable=</varname></term>
477
478 <listitem><para>Similar to
479 <varname>Requires=</varname>
480 and <varname>RequiresOverridable=</varname>, respectively. However,
481 if a unit listed here is not started
482 already it will not be started and the
483 transaction fails
484 immediately.</para></listitem>
485 </varlistentry>
486
487 <varlistentry>
488 <term><varname>Wants=</varname></term>
489
490 <listitem><para>A weaker version of
491 <varname>Requires=</varname>. A unit
492 listed in this option will be started
493 if the configuring unit is. However,
494 if the listed unit fails to start up
495 or cannot be added to the transaction
496 this has no impact on the validity of
497 the transaction as a whole. This is
498 the recommended way to hook start-up
499 of one unit to the start-up of another
500 unit.</para>
501
502 <para>Note that dependencies of this
503 type may also be configured outside of
504 the unit configuration file by
505 adding a symlink to a
506 <filename>.wants/</filename> directory
507 accompanying the unit file. For
508 details see above.</para></listitem>
509 </varlistentry>
510
511 <varlistentry>
512 <term><varname>BindsTo=</varname></term>
513
514 <listitem><para>Configures requirement
515 dependencies, very similar in style to
516 <varname>Requires=</varname>, however
517 in addition to this behavior it also
518 declares that this unit is stopped
519 when any of the units listed suddenly
520 disappears. Units can suddenly,
521 unexpectedly disappear if a service
522 terminates on its own choice, a device
523 is unplugged or a mount point
524 unmounted without involvement of
525 systemd.</para></listitem>
526 </varlistentry>
527
528 <varlistentry>
529 <term><varname>PartOf=</varname></term>
530
531 <listitem><para>Configures dependencies
532 similar to <varname>Requires=</varname>,
533 but limited to stopping and restarting
534 of units. When systemd stops or restarts
535 the units listed here, the action is
536 propagated to this unit.
537 Note that this is a one way dependency -
538 changes to this unit do not affect the
539 listed units.
540 </para></listitem>
541 </varlistentry>
542
543 <varlistentry>
544 <term><varname>Conflicts=</varname></term>
545
546 <listitem><para>Configures negative
547 requirement dependencies. If a unit
548 has a
549 <varname>Conflicts=</varname> setting
550 on another unit, starting the former
551 will stop the latter and vice
552 versa. Note that this setting is
553 independent of and orthogonal to the
554 <varname>After=</varname> and
555 <varname>Before=</varname> ordering
556 dependencies.</para>
557
558 <para>If a unit A that conflicts with
559 a unit B is scheduled to be started at
560 the same time as B, the transaction
561 will either fail (in case both are
562 required part of the transaction) or
563 be modified to be fixed (in case one
564 or both jobs are not a required part
565 of the transaction). In the latter
566 case the job that is not the required
567 will be removed, or in case both are
568 not required the unit that conflicts
569 will be started and the unit that is
570 conflicted is
571 stopped.</para></listitem>
572 </varlistentry>
573
574 <varlistentry>
575 <term><varname>Before=</varname></term>
576 <term><varname>After=</varname></term>
577
578 <listitem><para>Configures ordering
579 dependencies between units. If a unit
580 <filename>foo.service</filename>
581 contains a setting
582 <option>Before=bar.service</option>
583 and both units are being started,
584 <filename>bar.service</filename>'s
585 start-up is delayed until
586 <filename>foo.service</filename> is
587 started up. Note that this setting is
588 independent of and orthogonal to the
589 requirement dependencies as configured
590 by <varname>Requires=</varname>. It is
591 a common pattern to include a unit
592 name in both the
593 <varname>After=</varname> and
594 <varname>Requires=</varname> option in
595 which case the unit listed will be
596 started before the unit that is
597 configured with these options. This
598 option may be specified more than
599 once, in which case ordering
600 dependencies for all listed names are
601 created. <varname>After=</varname> is
602 the inverse of
603 <varname>Before=</varname>, i.e. while
604 <varname>After=</varname> ensures that
605 the configured unit is started after
606 the listed unit finished starting up,
607 <varname>Before=</varname> ensures the
608 opposite, i.e. that the configured
609 unit is fully started up before the
610 listed unit is started. Note that when
611 two units with an ordering dependency
612 between them are shut down, the
613 inverse of the start-up order is
614 applied. i.e. if a unit is configured
615 with <varname>After=</varname> on
616 another unit, the former is stopped
617 before the latter if both are shut
618 down. If one unit with an ordering
619 dependency on another unit is shut
620 down while the latter is started up,
621 the shut down is ordered before the
622 start-up regardless whether the
623 ordering dependency is actually of
624 type <varname>After=</varname> or
625 <varname>Before=</varname>. If two
626 units have no ordering dependencies
627 between them, they are shut down
628 or started up simultaneously, and
629 no ordering takes
630 place. </para></listitem>
631 </varlistentry>
632
633 <varlistentry>
634 <term><varname>OnFailure=</varname></term>
635
636 <listitem><para>Lists one or more
637 units that are activated when this
638 unit enters the
639 <literal>failed</literal>
640 state.</para></listitem>
641 </varlistentry>
642
643 <varlistentry>
644 <term><varname>PropagatesReloadTo=</varname></term>
645 <term><varname>ReloadPropagatedFrom=</varname></term>
646
647 <listitem><para>Lists one or more
648 units where reload requests on the
649 unit will be propagated to/on the
650 other unit will be propagated
651 from. Issuing a reload request on a
652 unit will automatically also enqueue a
653 reload request on all units that the
654 reload request shall be propagated to
655 via these two
656 settings.</para></listitem>
657 </varlistentry>
658
659 <varlistentry>
660 <term><varname>RequiresMountsFor=</varname></term>
661
662 <listitem><para>Takes a space-separated
663 list of absolute paths. Automatically
664 adds dependencies of type
665 <varname>Requires=</varname> and
666 <varname>After=</varname> for all
667 mount units required to access the
668 specified path.</para></listitem>
669 </varlistentry>
670
671 <varlistentry>
672 <term><varname>OnFailureIsolate=</varname></term>
673
674 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
675 argument. If <option>true</option>, the
676 unit listed in
677 <varname>OnFailure=</varname> will be
678 enqueued in isolation mode, i.e. all
679 units that are not its dependency will
680 be stopped. If this is set, only a
681 single unit may be listed in
682 <varname>OnFailure=</varname>. Defaults
683 to
684 <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
685 </varlistentry>
686
687 <varlistentry>
688 <term><varname>IgnoreOnIsolate=</varname></term>
689
690 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
691 argument. If <option>true</option>,
692 this unit will not be stopped when
693 isolating another unit. Defaults to
694 <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
695 </varlistentry>
696
697 <varlistentry>
698 <term><varname>IgnoreOnSnapshot=</varname></term>
699
700 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
701 argument. If <option>true</option>,
702 this unit will not be included in
703 snapshots. Defaults to
704 <option>true</option> for device and
705 snapshot units, <option>false</option>
706 for the others.</para></listitem>
707 </varlistentry>
708
709 <varlistentry>
710 <term><varname>StopWhenUnneeded=</varname></term>
711
712 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
713 argument. If <option>true</option>,
714 this unit will be stopped when it is
715 no longer used. Note that in order to
716 minimize the work to be executed,
717 systemd will not stop units by default
718 unless they are conflicting with other
719 units, or the user explicitly
720 requested their shut down. If this
721 option is set, a unit will be
722 automatically cleaned up if no other
723 active unit requires it. Defaults to
724 <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
725 </varlistentry>
726
727 <varlistentry>
728 <term><varname>RefuseManualStart=</varname></term>
729 <term><varname>RefuseManualStop=</varname></term>
730
731 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
732 argument. If <option>true</option>,
733 this unit can only be activated
734 or deactivated indirectly. In
735 this case, explicit start-up
736 or termination requested by the
737 user is denied, however if it is
738 started or stopped as a
739 dependency of another unit, start-up
740 or termination will succeed. This
741 is mostly a safety feature to ensure
742 that the user does not accidentally
743 activate units that are not intended
744 to be activated explicitly, and not
745 accidentally deactivate units that are
746 not intended to be deactivated.
747 These options default to
748 <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
749 </varlistentry>
750
751 <varlistentry>
752 <term><varname>AllowIsolate=</varname></term>
753
754 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
755 argument. If <option>true</option>,
756 this unit may be used with the
757 <command>systemctl isolate</command>
758 command. Otherwise, this will be
759 refused. It probably is a good idea to
760 leave this disabled except for target
761 units that shall be used similar to
762 runlevels in SysV init systems, just
763 as a precaution to avoid unusable
764 system states. This option defaults to
765 <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
766 </varlistentry>
767
768 <varlistentry>
769 <term><varname>DefaultDependencies=</varname></term>
770
771 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean
772 argument. If <option>true</option>,
773 (the default), a few default
774 dependencies will implicitly be
775 created for the unit. The actual
776 dependencies created depend on the
777 unit type. For example, for service
778 units, these dependencies ensure that
779 the service is started only after
780 basic system initialization is
781 completed and is properly terminated on
782 system shutdown. See the respective
783 man pages for details. Generally, only
784 services involved with early boot or
785 late shutdown should set this option
786 to <option>false</option>. It is
787 highly recommended to leave this
788 option enabled for the majority of
789 common units. If set to
790 <option>false</option>, this option
791 does not disable all implicit
792 dependencies, just non-essential
793 ones.</para></listitem>
794 </varlistentry>
795
796 <varlistentry>
797 <term><varname>JobTimeoutSec=</varname></term>
798
799 <listitem><para>When clients are
800 waiting for a job of this unit to
801 complete, time out after the specified
802 time. If this time limit is reached,
803 the job will be cancelled, the unit
804 however will not change state or even
805 enter the <literal>failed</literal>
806 mode. This value defaults to 0 (job
807 timeouts disabled), except for device
808 units. NB: this timeout is independent
809 from any unit-specific timeout (for
810 example, the timeout set with
811 <varname>Timeout=</varname> in service
812 units) as the job timeout has no
813 effect on the unit itself, only on the
814 job that might be pending for it. Or
815 in other words: unit-specific timeouts
816 are useful to abort unit state
817 changes, and revert them. The job
818 timeout set with this option however
819 is useful to abort only the job
820 waiting for the unit state to
821 change.</para></listitem>
822 </varlistentry>
823
824 <varlistentry>
825 <term><varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname></term>
826 <term><varname>ConditionPathExistsGlob=</varname></term>
827 <term><varname>ConditionPathIsDirectory=</varname></term>
828 <term><varname>ConditionPathIsSymbolicLink=</varname></term>
829 <term><varname>ConditionPathIsMountPoint=</varname></term>
830 <term><varname>ConditionPathIsReadWrite=</varname></term>
831 <term><varname>ConditionDirectoryNotEmpty=</varname></term>
832 <term><varname>ConditionFileNotEmpty=</varname></term>
833 <term><varname>ConditionFileIsExecutable=</varname></term>
834 <term><varname>ConditionKernelCommandLine=</varname></term>
835 <term><varname>ConditionVirtualization=</varname></term>
836 <term><varname>ConditionSecurity=</varname></term>
837 <term><varname>ConditionCapability=</varname></term>
838 <term><varname>ConditionHost=</varname></term>
839 <term><varname>ConditionACPower=</varname></term>
840 <term><varname>ConditionNull=</varname></term>
841
842 <listitem><para>Before starting a unit
843 verify that the specified condition is
844 true. If it is not true, the starting
845 of the unit will be skipped, however
846 all ordering dependencies of it are
847 still respected. A failing condition
848 will not result in the unit being
849 moved into a failure state. The
850 condition is checked at the time the
851 queued start job is to be
852 executed.</para>
853
854 <para>With
855 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
856 a file existence condition is
857 checked before a unit is started. If
858 the specified absolute path name does
859 not exist, the condition will
860 fail. If the absolute path name passed
861 to
862 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
863 is prefixed with an exclamation mark
864 (<literal>!</literal>), the test is negated, and the unit
865 is only started if the path does not
866 exist.</para>
867
868 <para><varname>ConditionPathExistsGlob=</varname>
869 is similar to
870 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>,
871 but checks for the existence of at
872 least one file or directory matching
873 the specified globbing pattern.</para>
874
875 <para><varname>ConditionPathIsDirectory=</varname>
876 is similar to
877 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
878 but verifies whether a certain path
879 exists and is a
880 directory.</para>
881
882 <para><varname>ConditionPathIsSymbolicLink=</varname>
883 is similar to
884 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
885 but verifies whether a certain path
886 exists and is a symbolic
887 link.</para>
888
889 <para><varname>ConditionPathIsMountPoint=</varname>
890 is similar to
891 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
892 but verifies whether a certain path
893 exists and is a mount
894 point.</para>
895
896 <para><varname>ConditionPathIsReadWrite=</varname>
897 is similar to
898 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
899 but verifies whether the underlying
900 file system is readable and writable
901 (i.e. not mounted
902 read-only).</para>
903
904 <para><varname>ConditionDirectoryNotEmpty=</varname>
905 is similar to
906 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
907 but verifies whether a certain path
908 exists and is a non-empty
909 directory.</para>
910
911 <para><varname>ConditionFileNotEmpty=</varname>
912 is similar to
913 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
914 but verifies whether a certain path
915 exists and refers to a regular file
916 with a non-zero size.</para>
917
918 <para><varname>ConditionFileIsExecutable=</varname>
919 is similar to
920 <varname>ConditionPathExists=</varname>
921 but verifies whether a certain path
922 exists, is a regular file and marked
923 executable.</para>
924
925 <para>Similar,
926 <varname>ConditionKernelCommandLine=</varname>
927 may be used to check whether a
928 specific kernel command line option is
929 set (or if prefixed with the
930 exclamation mark unset). The argument
931 must either be a single word, or an
932 assignment (i.e. two words, separated
933 <literal>=</literal>). In the former
934 case the kernel command line is
935 searched for the word appearing as is,
936 or as left hand side of an
937 assignment. In the latter case the
938 exact assignment is looked for with
939 right and left hand side
940 matching.</para>
941
942 <para><varname>ConditionVirtualization=</varname>
943 may be used to check whether the
944 system is executed in a virtualized
945 environment and optionally test
946 whether it is a specific
947 implementation. Takes either boolean
948 value to check if being executed in
949 any virtualized environment, or one of
950 <varname>vm</varname> and
951 <varname>container</varname> to test
952 against a generic type of
953 virtualization solution, or one of
954 <varname>qemu</varname>,
955 <varname>kvm</varname>,
956 <varname>vmware</varname>,
957 <varname>microsoft</varname>,
958 <varname>oracle</varname>,
959 <varname>xen</varname>,
960 <varname>bochs</varname>,
961 <varname>chroot</varname>,
962 <varname>uml</varname>,
963 <varname>openvz</varname>,
964 <varname>lxc</varname>,
965 <varname>lxc-libvirt</varname>,
966 <varname>systemd-nspawn</varname> to
967 test against a specific
968 implementation. If multiple
969 virtualization technologies are nested,
970 only the innermost is considered. The
971 test may be negated by prepending an
972 exclamation mark.</para>
973
974 <para><varname>ConditionSecurity=</varname>
975 may be used to check whether the given
976 security module is enabled on the
977 system. Currently the recognized values
978 values are <varname>selinux</varname>,
979 <varname>apparmor</varname>,
980 <varname>ima</varname> and
981 <varname>smack</varname>.
982 The test may be negated by prepending
983 an exclamation
984 mark.</para>
985
986 <para><varname>ConditionCapability=</varname>
987 may be used to check whether the given
988 capability exists in the capability
989 bounding set of the service manager
990 (i.e. this does not check whether
991 capability is actually available in
992 the permitted or effective sets, see
993 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>capabilities</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
994 for details). Pass a capability name
995 such as <literal>CAP_MKNOD</literal>,
996 possibly prefixed with an exclamation
997 mark to negate the check.</para>
998
999 <para><varname>ConditionHost=</varname>
1000 may be used to match against the
1001 hostname or machine ID of the
1002 host. This either takes a hostname
1003 string (optionally with shell style
1004 globs) which is tested against the
1005 locally set hostname as returned by
1006 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>gethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1007 or a machine ID formatted as string
1008 (see
1009 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
1010 The test may be negated by prepending
1011 an exclamation mark.</para>
1012
1013 <para><varname>ConditionACPower=</varname>
1014 may be used to check whether the
1015 system has AC power, or is exclusively
1016 battery powered at the time of
1017 activation of the unit. This takes a
1018 boolean argument. If set to
1019 <varname>true</varname>, the condition
1020 will hold only if at least one AC
1021 connector of the system is connected
1022 to a power source, or if no AC
1023 connectors are known. Conversely, if
1024 set to <varname>false</varname>, the
1025 condition will hold only if there is
1026 at least one AC connector known and
1027 all AC connectors are disconnected
1028 from a power source.</para>
1029
1030 <para>Finally,
1031 <varname>ConditionNull=</varname> may
1032 be used to add a constant condition
1033 check value to the unit. It takes a
1034 boolean argument. If set to
1035 <varname>false</varname>, the condition
1036 will always fail, otherwise
1037 succeed.</para>
1038
1039 <para>If multiple conditions are
1040 specified, the unit will be executed if
1041 all of them apply (i.e. a logical AND
1042 is applied). Condition checks can be
1043 prefixed with a pipe symbol (|) in
1044 which case a condition becomes a
1045 triggering condition. If at least one
1046 triggering condition is defined for a
1047 unit, then the unit will be executed if
1048 at least one of the triggering
1049 conditions apply and all of the
1050 non-triggering conditions. If you
1051 prefix an argument with the pipe
1052 symbol and an exclamation mark, the
1053 pipe symbol must be passed first, the
1054 exclamation second. Except for
1055 <varname>ConditionPathIsSymbolicLink=</varname>,
1056 all path checks follow symlinks. If
1057 any of these options is assigned the
1058 empty string, the list of conditions is
1059 reset completely, all previous
1060 condition settings (of any kind) will
1061 have no effect.</para></listitem>
1062 </varlistentry>
1063
1064 <varlistentry>
1065 <term><varname>SourcePath=</varname></term>
1066 <listitem><para>A path to a
1067 configuration file this unit has been
1068 generated from. This is primarily
1069 useful for implementation of generator
1070 tools that convert configuration from
1071 an external configuration file format
1072 into native unit files. Thus
1073 functionality should not be used in
1074 normal units.</para></listitem>
1075 </varlistentry>
1076 </variablelist>
1077
1078 <para>Unit file may include a [Install] section, which
1079 carries installation information for the unit. This
1080 section is not interpreted by
1081 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1082 during runtime. It is used exclusively by the
1083 <command>enable</command> and
1084 <command>disable</command> commands of the
1085 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1086 tool during installation of a unit:</para>
1087
1088 <variablelist class='unit-directives'>
1089 <varlistentry>
1090 <term><varname>Alias=</varname></term>
1091
1092 <listitem><para>Additional names this
1093 unit shall be installed under. The
1094 names listed here must have the same
1095 suffix (i.e. type) as the unit file
1096 name. This option may be specified
1097 more than once, in which case all
1098 listed names are used. At installation
1099 time,
1100 <command>systemctl enable</command>
1101 will create symlinks from these names
1102 to the unit filename.</para></listitem>
1103 </varlistentry>
1104
1105 <varlistentry>
1106 <term><varname>WantedBy=</varname></term>
1107 <term><varname>RequiredBy=</varname></term>
1108
1109 <listitem><para>A symbolic link is
1110 created in the
1111 <filename>.wants/</filename> or
1112 <filename>.requires/</filename> directory
1113 of the listed unit when this unit is
1114 activated by <command>systemctl
1115 enable</command>. This has the effect
1116 that a dependency of type
1117 <varname>Wants=</varname> or
1118 <varname>Requires=</varname> is added
1119 from the listed unit to the current
1120 unit. The primary result is that the
1121 current unit will be started when the
1122 listed unit is started. See the
1123 description of
1124 <varname>Wants=</varname> and
1125 <varname>Requires=</varname> in the
1126 [Unit] section for details.</para>
1127
1128 <para><command>WantedBy=foo.service</command>
1129 in a service
1130 <filename>bar.service</filename> is
1131 mostly equivalent to
1132 <command>Alias=foo.service.wants/bar.service</command>
1133 in the same file. In case of template
1134 units, <command>systemctl enable</command>
1135 must be called with an instance name, and
1136 this instance will be added to the
1137 <filename>.wants/</filename> or
1138 <filename>.requires/</filename> list
1139 of the listed unit.
1140 E.g. <command>WantedBy=getty.target</command>
1141 in a service
1142 <filename>getty@.service</filename>
1143 will result in <command>systemctl
1144 enable getty@tty2.service</command>
1145 creating a
1146 <filename>getty.target.wants/getty@tty2.service</filename>
1147 link to <filename>getty@.service</filename>.
1148 </para></listitem>
1149 </varlistentry>
1150
1151 <varlistentry>
1152 <term><varname>Also=</varname></term>
1153
1154 <listitem><para>Additional units to
1155 install/deinstall when this unit is
1156 installed/deinstalled. If the user
1157 requests installation/deinstallation
1158 of a unit with this option configured,
1159 <command>systemctl enable</command>
1160 and <command>systemctl
1161 disable</command> will automatically
1162 install/uninstall units listed in this option as
1163 well.</para></listitem>
1164 </varlistentry>
1165 </variablelist>
1166
1167 <para>The following specifiers are interpreted in the
1168 Install section: %n, %N, %p, %i, %U, %u, %m, %H, %b, %v.
1169 For their meaning see the next section.
1170 </para>
1171 </refsect1>
1172
1173 <refsect1>
1174 <title>Specifiers</title>
1175
1176 <para>Many settings resolve specifiers which may be
1177 used to write generic unit files referring to runtime
1178 or unit parameters that are replaced when the unit
1179 files are loaded. The following specifiers are
1180 understood:</para>
1181
1182 <table>
1183 <title>Specifiers available in unit files</title>
1184 <tgroup cols='3' align='left' colsep='1' rowsep='1'>
1185 <colspec colname="spec" />
1186 <colspec colname="mean" />
1187 <colspec colname="detail" />
1188 <thead>
1189 <row>
1190 <entry>Specifier</entry>
1191 <entry>Meaning</entry>
1192 <entry>Details</entry>
1193 </row>
1194 </thead>
1195 <tbody>
1196 <row>
1197 <entry><literal>%n</literal></entry>
1198 <entry>Full unit name</entry>
1199 <entry></entry>
1200 </row>
1201 <row>
1202 <entry><literal>%N</literal></entry>
1203 <entry>Unescaped full unit name</entry>
1204 <entry></entry>
1205 </row>
1206 <row>
1207 <entry><literal>%p</literal></entry>
1208 <entry>Prefix name</entry>
1209 <entry>For instantiated units this refers to the string before the @. For non-instantiated units this refers to to the name of the unit with the type suffix removed.</entry>
1210 </row>
1211 <row>
1212 <entry><literal>%P</literal></entry>
1213 <entry>Unescaped prefix name</entry>
1214 <entry></entry>
1215 </row>
1216 <row>
1217 <entry><literal>%i</literal></entry>
1218 <entry>Instance name</entry>
1219 <entry>For instantiated units: this is the string between the <literal>@</literal> character and the suffix.</entry>
1220 </row>
1221 <row>
1222 <entry><literal>%I</literal></entry>
1223 <entry>Unescaped instance name</entry>
1224 <entry></entry>
1225 </row>
1226 <row>
1227 <entry><literal>%f</literal></entry>
1228 <entry>Unescaped filename</entry>
1229 <entry>This is either the unescaped instance name (if applicable) with <filename>/</filename> prepended (if applicable), or the prefix name similarly prepended with <filename>/</filename>.</entry>
1230 </row>
1231 <row>
1232 <entry><literal>%c</literal></entry>
1233 <entry>Control group path of the unit</entry>
1234 <entry></entry>
1235 </row>
1236 <row>
1237 <entry><literal>%r</literal></entry>
1238 <entry>Root control group path where units are placed.</entry>
1239 <entry>For system instances this usually resolves to <filename>/system</filename>, except in containers, where the path might be prefixed with the container's root control group.</entry>
1240 </row>
1241 <row>
1242 <entry><literal>%R</literal></entry>
1243 <entry>Parent directory of the control group path where units are placed.</entry>
1244 <entry>For system instances this usually
1245 resolves to <filename>/</filename>, except in
1246 containers, where this resolves to the
1247 container's root directory.</entry>
1248 </row>
1249 <row>
1250 <entry><literal>%t</literal></entry>
1251 <entry>Runtime socket dir</entry>
1252 <entry>This is either <filename>/run</filename> (for the system manager) or <literal>$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR</literal> (for user managers).</entry>
1253 </row>
1254 <row>
1255 <entry><literal>%u</literal></entry>
1256 <entry>User name</entry>
1257 <entry>This is the name of the configured user of the unit, or (if none is set) the user running the systemd instance.</entry>
1258 </row>
1259 <row>
1260 <entry><literal>%U</literal></entry>
1261 <entry>User UID</entry>
1262 <entry>This is the UID of the configured user of the unit, or (if none is set) the user running the systemd instance.</entry>
1263 </row>
1264 <row>
1265 <entry><literal>%h</literal></entry>
1266 <entry>User home directory</entry>
1267 <entry>This is the home directory of the configured user of the unit, or (if none is set) the user running the systemd instance.</entry>
1268 </row>
1269 <row>
1270 <entry><literal>%s</literal></entry>
1271 <entry>User shell</entry>
1272 <entry>This is the shell of the configured user of the unit, or (if none is set) the user running the systemd instance. If the user is <literal>root</literal> (UID equal to 0), the shell configured in account database is ignored and <filename>/bin/sh</filename> is always used.</entry>
1273 </row>
1274 <row>
1275 <entry><literal>%m</literal></entry>
1276 <entry>Machine ID</entry>
1277 <entry>The machine ID of the running system, formatted as string. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for more information.</entry>
1278 </row>
1279 <row>
1280 <entry><literal>%b</literal></entry>
1281 <entry>Boot ID</entry>
1282 <entry>The boot ID of the running system, formatted as string. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>random</refentrytitle><manvolnum>4</manvolnum></citerefentry> for more information.</entry>
1283 </row>
1284 <row>
1285 <entry><literal>%H</literal></entry>
1286 <entry>Host name</entry>
1287 <entry>The hostname of the running system.</entry>
1288 </row>
1289 <row>
1290 <entry><literal>%v</literal></entry>
1291 <entry>Kernel release</entry>
1292 <entry>Identical to <command>uname -r</command> output.</entry>
1293 </row>
1294 <row>
1295 <entry><literal>%%</literal></entry>
1296 <entry>Escaped %</entry>
1297 <entry>Single percent sign.</entry>
1298 </row>
1299 </tbody>
1300 </tgroup>
1301 </table>
1302 </refsect1>
1303
1304 <refsect1>
1305 <title>See Also</title>
1306 <para>
1307 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1308 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1309 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1310 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1311 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1312 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.device</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1313 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1314 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.automount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1315 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.swap</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1316 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.target</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1317 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.path</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1318 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1319 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.snapshot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1320 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.scope</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1321 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.slice</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1322 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1323 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>capabilities</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1324 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1325 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>uname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1326 </para>
1327 </refsect1>
1328
1329 </refentry>