1SYSTEMD.PATH(5)                  systemd.path                  SYSTEMD.PATH(5)
2
3
4

NAME

6       systemd.path - Path unit configuration
7

SYNOPSIS

9       path.path
10

DESCRIPTION

12       A unit configuration file whose name ends in ".path" encodes
13       information about a path monitored by systemd, for path-based
14       activation.
15
16       This man page lists the configuration options specific to this unit
17       type. See systemd.unit(5) for the common options of all unit
18       configuration files. The common configuration items are configured in
19       the generic "[Unit]" and "[Install]" sections. The path specific
20       configuration options are configured in the "[Path]" section.
21
22       For each path file, a matching unit file must exist, describing the
23       unit to activate when the path changes. By default, a service by the
24       same name as the path (except for the suffix) is activated. Example: a
25       path file foo.path activates a matching service foo.service. The unit
26       to activate may be controlled by Unit= (see below).
27
28       Internally, path units use the inotify(7) API to monitor file systems.
29       Due to that, it suffers by the same limitations as inotify, and for
30       example cannot be used to monitor files or directories changed by other
31       machines on remote NFS file systems.
32

AUTOMATIC DEPENDENCIES

34   Implicit Dependencies
35       The following dependencies are implicitly added:
36
37       ·   If a path unit is beneath another mount unit in the file system
38           hierarchy, both a requirement and an ordering dependency between
39           both units are created automatically.
40
41       ·   An implicit Before= dependency is added between a path unit and the
42           unit it is supposed to activate.
43
44   Default Dependencies
45       The following dependencies are added unless DefaultDependencies=no is
46       set:
47
48       ·   Path units will automatically have dependencies of type Before= on
49           paths.target, dependencies of type After= and Requires= on
50           sysinit.target, and have dependencies of type Conflicts= and
51           Before= on shutdown.target. These ensure that path units are
52           terminated cleanly prior to system shutdown. Only path units
53           involved with early boot or late system shutdown should disable
54           DefaultDependencies= option.
55

OPTIONS

57       Path files must include a [Path] section, which carries information
58       about the path(s) it monitors. The options specific to the [Path]
59       section of path units are the following:
60
61       PathExists=, PathExistsGlob=, PathChanged=, PathModified=,
62       DirectoryNotEmpty=
63           Defines paths to monitor for certain changes: PathExists= may be
64           used to watch the mere existence of a file or directory. If the
65           file specified exists, the configured unit is activated.
66           PathExistsGlob= works similar, but checks for the existence of at
67           least one file matching the globbing pattern specified.
68           PathChanged= may be used to watch a file or directory and activate
69           the configured unit whenever it changes. It is not activated on
70           every write to the watched file but it is activated if the file
71           which was open for writing gets closed.  PathModified= is similar,
72           but additionally it is activated also on simple writes to the
73           watched file.  DirectoryNotEmpty= may be used to watch a directory
74           and activate the configured unit whenever it contains at least one
75           file.
76
77           The arguments of these directives must be absolute file system
78           paths.
79
80           Multiple directives may be combined, of the same and of different
81           types, to watch multiple paths. If the empty string is assigned to
82           any of these options, the list of paths to watch is reset, and any
83           prior assignments of these options will not have any effect.
84
85           If a path already exists (in case of PathExists= and
86           PathExistsGlob=) or a directory already is not empty (in case of
87           DirectoryNotEmpty=) at the time the path unit is activated, then
88           the configured unit is immediately activated as well. Something
89           similar does not apply to PathChanged= and PathModified=.
90
91           If the path itself or any of the containing directories are not
92           accessible, systemd will watch for permission changes and notice
93           that conditions are satisfied when permissions allow that.
94
95       Unit=
96           The unit to activate when any of the configured paths changes. The
97           argument is a unit name, whose suffix is not ".path". If not
98           specified, this value defaults to a service that has the same name
99           as the path unit, except for the suffix. (See above.) It is
100           recommended that the unit name that is activated and the unit name
101           of the path unit are named identical, except for the suffix.
102
103       MakeDirectory=
104           Takes a boolean argument. If true, the directories to watch are
105           created before watching. This option is ignored for PathExists=
106           settings. Defaults to false.
107
108       DirectoryMode=
109           If MakeDirectory= is enabled, use the mode specified here to create
110           the directories in question. Takes an access mode in octal
111           notation. Defaults to 0755.
112

SEE ALSO

114       systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5),
115       inotify(7), systemd.directives(7)
116
117
118
119systemd 243                                                    SYSTEMD.PATH(5)
Impressum