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vikarjramun
Asked: 2017-05-11 08:36:43 +0800 CST

Writing systemd script

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I have a process that I need to run at startup. It is something that needs to stay running the entire time that the machine is on. As of now I am just typing the following into bash everything I start my server.

command -f argument & disown

I know that I need to make an init script, but I had no idea how. After some research, it seems Ubuntu uses systemd (some references said Upstart, they aren't the same right?) as its init system. But all the guides I found online tell me to place my executable in /etc/init or /etc/init.d. Init is supposed to be a completely different init system.

Can someone please point me in the right direction? A sample systemd script or even an online guide would be a great help.

boot

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You need two files:

    1. Your script file:

      command.sh

    2. The .service file to be placed in /etc/systemd/system and given permission of 644 with chmod 664 command.service:

      command.service

    3. The simplest content of command.service would be:

      [Unit]
Description=Some service description

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "/path/to/command.sh -f argument & disown"

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

    4. Now to make it launch at boot we use the systemd controller systemctl:

      sudo systemctl enable command

# or 

sudo systemctl enable command.service

    Note many more options are available for the various sections, see here, and make sure your command.sh is executable with chmod +x command.sh

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