Writing Systemd Service Files That Actually Work
Systemd services look simple until they don’t start, restart unexpectedly, or fail silently. Here’s how to write service files that work reliably in production. Basic Structure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 # /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service [Unit] Description=My Application After=network.target [Service] Type=simple ExecStart=/usr/bin/myapp Restart=always [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Three sections, three purposes: [Unit] - What is this, what does it depend on [Service] - How to run it [Install] - When to start it Service Types Type=simple (Default) 1 2 3 [Service] Type=simple ExecStart=/usr/bin/myapp Systemd considers the service started immediately when ExecStart runs. Use when your process stays in foreground. ...