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Keeto
Asked: 2016-08-05 10:02:07 +0800 CST

How to use the `$HOME` environment variable in systemd service files

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I am trying to use the $HOME environment variable in the ExecStart. I tried many different things like $HOME and ${HOME} but nothing seems to be working

ExecStart=${HOME}/bin/some-binary

Anyone knows the correct format for this?

linux init systemd

3 Answers

  1. I think this is what you're looking for: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.unit.html#Specifiers.

    Specifically, %h should expand to the current user's home dir.

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  2. The full list of supported variables (called "Specifiers") is here: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.unit.html#Specifiers.

    There is no specifier for the home directory of user the service is run as (the one specified by User=). There is only one for the user running the service manager.

    From the link:

    %h is the home directory of the user running the service manager instance. In case of the system manager this resolves to "/root". Note that this setting is not influenced by the User= setting configurable in the [Service] section of the service unit.

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  3. You could use

    WorkingDirectory=~

    and set relative paths.

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