SYSTEMD.PATH(5)



SYSTEMD.PATH(5)                  systemd.path                  SYSTEMD.PATH(5)

NAME
       systemd.path - Path unit configuration

SYNOPSIS
       path.path

DESCRIPTION
       A unit configuration file whose name ends in ".path" encodes
       information about a path monitored by systemd, for path-based
       activation.

       This man page lists the configuration options specific to this unit
       type. See systemd.unit(5) for the common options of all unit
       configuration files. The common configuration items are configured in
       the generic "[Unit]" and "[Install]" sections. The path specific
       configuration options are configured in the "[Path]" section.

       For each path file, a matching unit file must exist, describing the
       unit to activate when the path changes. By default, a service by the
       same name as the path (except for the suffix) is activated. Example: a
       path file foo.path activates a matching service foo.service. The unit
       to activate may be controlled by Unit= (see below).

       Internally, path units use the inotify(7) API to monitor file systems.
       Due to that, it suffers by the same limitations as inotify, and for
       example cannot be used to monitor files or directories changed by other
       machines on remote NFS file systems.

       When a service unit triggered by a path unit terminates (regardless
       whether it exited successfully or failed), monitored paths are checked
       immediately again, and the service accordingly restarted instantly. As
       protection against busy looping in this trigger/start cycle, a start
       rate limit is enforced on the service unit, see StartLimitIntervalSec=
       and StartLimitBurst= in systemd.unit(5). Unlike other service failures,
       the error condition that the start rate limit is hit is propagated from
       the service unit to the path unit and causes the path unit to fail as
       well, thus ending the loop.

AUTOMATIC DEPENDENCIES
   Implicit Dependencies
       The following dependencies are implicitly added:

       o   If a path unit is beneath another mount unit in the file system
           hierarchy, both a requirement and an ordering dependency between
           both units are created automatically.

       o   An implicit Before= dependency is added between a path unit and the
           unit it is supposed to activate.

   Default Dependencies
       The following dependencies are added unless DefaultDependencies=no is
       set:

       o   Path units will automatically have dependencies of type Before= on
           paths.target, dependencies of type After= and Requires= on
           sysinit.target, and have dependencies of type Conflicts= and
           Before= on shutdown.target. These ensure that path units are
           terminated cleanly prior to system shutdown. Only path units
           involved with early boot or late system shutdown should disable
           DefaultDependencies= option.

OPTIONS
       Path files must include a [Path] section, which carries information
       about the path(s) it monitors. The options specific to the [Path]
       section of path units are the following:

       PathExists=, PathExistsGlob=, PathChanged=, PathModified=,
       DirectoryNotEmpty=
           Defines paths to monitor for certain changes: PathExists= may be
           used to watch the mere existence of a file or directory. If the
           file specified exists, the configured unit is activated.
           PathExistsGlob= works similar, but checks for the existence of at
           least one file matching the globbing pattern specified.
           PathChanged= may be used to watch a file or directory and activate
           the configured unit whenever it changes. It is not activated on
           every write to the watched file but it is activated if the file
           which was open for writing gets closed.  PathModified= is similar,
           but additionally it is activated also on simple writes to the
           watched file.  DirectoryNotEmpty= may be used to watch a directory
           and activate the configured unit whenever it contains at least one
           file.

           The arguments of these directives must be absolute file system
           paths.

           Multiple directives may be combined, of the same and of different
           types, to watch multiple paths. If the empty string is assigned to
           any of these options, the list of paths to watch is reset, and any
           prior assignments of these options will not have any effect.

           If a path already exists (in case of PathExists= and
           PathExistsGlob=) or a directory already is not empty (in case of
           DirectoryNotEmpty=) at the time the path unit is activated, then
           the configured unit is immediately activated as well. Something
           similar does not apply to PathChanged= and PathModified=.

           If the path itself or any of the containing directories are not
           accessible, systemd will watch for permission changes and notice
           that conditions are satisfied when permissions allow that.

       Unit=
           The unit to activate when any of the configured paths changes. The
           argument is a unit name, whose suffix is not ".path". If not
           specified, this value defaults to a service that has the same name
           as the path unit, except for the suffix. (See above.) It is
           recommended that the unit name that is activated and the unit name
           of the path unit are named identical, except for the suffix.

       MakeDirectory=
           Takes a boolean argument. If true, the directories to watch are
           created before watching. This option is ignored for PathExists=
           settings. Defaults to false.

       DirectoryMode=
           If MakeDirectory= is enabled, use the mode specified here to create
           the directories in question. Takes an access mode in octal
           notation. Defaults to 0755.

SEE ALSO
       systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5),
       inotify(7), systemd.directives(7)

systemd 245                                                    SYSTEMD.PATH(5)

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