1SYSTEMD.PATH(5)                  systemd.path                  SYSTEMD.PATH(5)
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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
33       When a service unit triggered by a path unit terminates (regardless
34       whether it exited successfully or failed), monitored paths are checked
35       immediately again, and the service accordingly restarted instantly. As
36       protection against busy looping in this trigger/start cycle, a start
37       rate limit is enforced on the service unit, see StartLimitIntervalSec=
38       and StartLimitBurst= in systemd.unit(5). Unlike other service failures,
39       the error condition that the start rate limit is hit is propagated from
40       the service unit to the path unit and causes the path unit to fail as
41       well, thus ending the loop.
42

AUTOMATIC DEPENDENCIES

44   Implicit Dependencies
45       The following dependencies are implicitly added:
46
47       ·   If a path unit is beneath another mount unit in the file system
48           hierarchy, both a requirement and an ordering dependency between
49           both units are created automatically.
50
51       ·   An implicit Before= dependency is added between a path unit and the
52           unit it is supposed to activate.
53
54   Default Dependencies
55       The following dependencies are added unless DefaultDependencies=no is
56       set:
57
58       ·   Path units will automatically have dependencies of type Before= on
59           paths.target, dependencies of type After= and Requires= on
60           sysinit.target, and have dependencies of type Conflicts= and
61           Before= on shutdown.target. These ensure that path units are
62           terminated cleanly prior to system shutdown. Only path units
63           involved with early boot or late system shutdown should disable
64           DefaultDependencies= option.
65

OPTIONS

67       Path files must include a [Path] section, which carries information
68       about the path(s) it monitors. The options specific to the [Path]
69       section of path units are the following:
70
71       PathExists=, PathExistsGlob=, PathChanged=, PathModified=,
72       DirectoryNotEmpty=
73           Defines paths to monitor for certain changes: PathExists= may be
74           used to watch the mere existence of a file or directory. If the
75           file specified exists, the configured unit is activated.
76           PathExistsGlob= works similar, but checks for the existence of at
77           least one file matching the globbing pattern specified.
78           PathChanged= may be used to watch a file or directory and activate
79           the configured unit whenever it changes. It is not activated on
80           every write to the watched file but it is activated if the file
81           which was open for writing gets closed.  PathModified= is similar,
82           but additionally it is activated also on simple writes to the
83           watched file.  DirectoryNotEmpty= may be used to watch a directory
84           and activate the configured unit whenever it contains at least one
85           file.
86
87           The arguments of these directives must be absolute file system
88           paths.
89
90           Multiple directives may be combined, of the same and of different
91           types, to watch multiple paths. If the empty string is assigned to
92           any of these options, the list of paths to watch is reset, and any
93           prior assignments of these options will not have any effect.
94
95           If a path already exists (in case of PathExists= and
96           PathExistsGlob=) or a directory already is not empty (in case of
97           DirectoryNotEmpty=) at the time the path unit is activated, then
98           the configured unit is immediately activated as well. Something
99           similar does not apply to PathChanged= and PathModified=.
100
101           If the path itself or any of the containing directories are not
102           accessible, systemd will watch for permission changes and notice
103           that conditions are satisfied when permissions allow that.
104
105       Unit=
106           The unit to activate when any of the configured paths changes. The
107           argument is a unit name, whose suffix is not ".path". If not
108           specified, this value defaults to a service that has the same name
109           as the path unit, except for the suffix. (See above.) It is
110           recommended that the unit name that is activated and the unit name
111           of the path unit are named identical, except for the suffix.
112
113       MakeDirectory=
114           Takes a boolean argument. If true, the directories to watch are
115           created before watching. This option is ignored for PathExists=
116           settings. Defaults to false.
117
118       DirectoryMode=
119           If MakeDirectory= is enabled, use the mode specified here to create
120           the directories in question. Takes an access mode in octal
121           notation. Defaults to 0755.
122

SEE ALSO

124       systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5),
125       inotify(7), systemd.directives(7)
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129systemd 245                                                    SYSTEMD.PATH(5)
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