systemd.pathsystemdDeveloperLennartPoetteringlennart@poettering.netsystemd.path5systemd.pathsystemd path configuration filessystemd.pathDescriptionA unit configuration file whose name ends in
.path encodes information about
a path monitored by systemd, for
path-based activation.This man page lists the configuration options
specific to this unit type. See
systemd.unit5
for the common options of all unit configuration
files. The common configuration items are configured
in the generic [Unit] and [Install] sections. The
path specific configuration options are configured in
the [Path] section.For each path file, a matching unit file must
exist, describing the unit to activate when the path
changes. By default, a service by the same name as the
path (except for the suffix) is activated. Example: a
path file foo.path activates a
matching service foo.service. The
unit to activate may be controlled by
Unit= (see below).Internally, path units use the
inotify7
API to monitor file systems. Due to that, it suffers by the
same limitations as inotify, and for example cannot be
used to monitor files or directories changed by other
machines on remote NFS file systems.If an path unit is beneath another mount
point in the file system hierarchy, a dependency
between both units is created automatically.Unless DefaultDependencies=
is set to , path units will
implicitly have dependencies of type
Conflicts= and
Before= on
shutdown.target. These ensure
that path units are terminated cleanly prior to system
shutdown. Only path units involved with early boot or
late system shutdown should disable this
option.OptionsPath files must include a [Path] section,
which carries information about the path(s) it
monitors. The options specific to the [Path] section
of path units are the following:PathExists=PathExistsGlob=PathChanged=PathModified=DirectoryNotEmpty=Defines paths to
monitor for certain changes:
PathExists= may be
used to watch the mere existence of a
file or directory. If the file
specified exists the configured unit
is
activated. PathExistsGlob=
works similar, but checks for the
existence of at least one file
matching the globbing pattern
specified. PathChanged=
may be used to watch a file or
directory and activate the configured
unit whenever it changes. It is not activated
on every write to the watched file but it is
activated if the file which was open for writing
gets closed. PathModified=
is similar, but additionally it is activated
also on simple writes to the watched file.
DirectoryNotEmpty=
may be used to watch a directory and
activate the configured unit whenever
it contains at least one file.The arguments of these
directives must be absolute file
system paths.Multiple directives may be
combined, of the same and of different
types, to watch multiple paths.If a path is already existing
(in case of
PathExists= and
PathExistsGlob=) or
a directory already is not empty (in
case of
DirectoryNotEmpty=)
at the time the path unit is
activated, then the configured unit is
immediately activated as
well. Something similar does not apply
to PathChanged=.
Unit=The unit to activate
when any of the configured paths
changes. The argument is a unit name,
whose suffix is not
.path. If not
specified, this value defaults to a
service that has the same name as the
path unit, except for the suffix. (See
above.) It is recommended that the
unit name that is activated and the
unit name of the path unit are named
identical, except for the
suffix.MakeDirectory=Takes a boolean
argument. If true the directories to
watch are created before
watching. This option is ignored for
PathExists=
settings. Defaults to
.DirectoryMode=If
MakeDirectory= is
enabled use the mode specified here to
create the directories in
question. Takes an access mode in
octal notation. Defaults to
.See Alsosystemd1,
systemctl8,
systemd.unit5,
systemd.service5,
inotify7