<term><varname>ExecStart=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Commands with their
arguments that are executed when this
- service is started.
- </para>
+ service is started. The first
+ argument must be an absolute path
+ name.</para>
- <para>When
+ <para>When <varname>Type</varname> is
+ not <option>oneshot</option>, only one
+ command may be given. When
<varname>Type=oneshot</varname> is
used, more than one command may be
specified. Multiple command lines may
for compatibility with parsers
suitable for XDG
<filename>.desktop</filename> files.
- The commands are invoked one by one
- sequentially in the order they appear
- in the unit file. When
- <varname>Type</varname> is not
- <option>oneshot</option>, only one
- command may be given. Lone semicolons
- may be escaped as
+ Lone semicolons may be escaped as
'<literal>\;</literal>'. If the empty
string is assigned to this option the
list of commands to start is reset,
prior assignments of this option will
have no effect.</para>
+ <para>If more than one command is
+ specified, the commands are invoked
+ one by one sequentially in the order
+ they appear in the unit file. If one
+ of the commands fails (and is not
+ prefixed with '<literal>-</literal>'),
+ other lines are not executed and the
+ unit is considered failed.</para>
+
<para>Unless
<varname>Type=forking</varname> is
set, the process started via this
line (i.e. the program to execute) may
not include specifiers.</para>
- <para>On top of that basic environment
- variable substitution is
- supported. Use
+ <para>Basic environment variable
+ substitution is supported. Use
<literal>${FOO}</literal> as part of a
word, or as a word of its own on the
command line, in which case it will be
word on the command line, in which
case it will be replaced by the value
of the environment variable split up
- at whitespace, resulting in no or more
- arguments. Note that the first
+ at whitespace, resulting in zero or
+ more arguments. Note that the first
argument (i.e. the program to execute)
- may not be a variable, and must be a
- literal and absolute path
+ may not be a variable, since it must
+ be a literal and absolute path
name.</para>
<para>Optionally, if the absolute file
lines. If shell command lines are to
be used they need to be passed
explicitly to a shell implementation
- of some kind. Example:
- <literal>ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'dmesg | tac'</literal></para>
+ of some kind. Example:</para>
+ <programlisting>ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'dmesg | tac'
+ </programlisting>
<para>For services run by a user
instance of systemd the special
environment variable
- <literal>MANAGERPID</literal> is set
+ <varname>$MANAGERPID</varname> is set
to the PID of the systemd
instance.</para>
</listitem>
that multiple command lines are allowed
and the commands are executed one
after the other, serially.</para>
+
+ <para>If any of those commands (not
+ prefixed with '<literal>-</literal>')
+ fail, the rest are not executed and
+ the unit is considered failed.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
optional. Specifier and environment
variable substitution is supported
here following the same scheme as for
- <varname>ExecStart=</varname>. One
- additional special environment
- variables is set: if known
- <literal>$MAINPID</literal> is set to
+ <varname>ExecStart=</varname>.</para>
+
+ <para>One additional special
+ environment variables is set: if known
+ <varname>$MAINPID</varname> is set to
the main process of the daemon, and
may be used for command lines like the
- following: <command>/bin/kill -HUP
- $MAINPID</command>.</para></listitem>
+ following:</para>
+
+ <programlisting>/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID</programlisting>
+ </listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
service stop is requested. Specifier
and environment variable substitution
is supported (including
- <literal>$MAINPID</literal>, see
+ <varname>$MAINPID</varname>, see
above).</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term><varname>ExecStopPost=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Additional commands
that are executed after the service
- was stopped using the commands
- configured in
- <varname>ExecStop=</varname>. This
+ was stopped. This includes cases where
+ the commands configured in
+ <varname>ExecStop=</varname> were used,
+ where the service doesn't have any
+ <varname>ExecStop=</varname> defined, or
+ where the service exited unexpectedly. This
argument takes multiple command lines,
following the same scheme as described
for <varname>ExecStart</varname>. Use