SYSTEMD.PATH(5) 						   systemd.path 						   SYSTEMD.PATH(5)

NAME

       systemd.path - Path unit configuration

SYNOPSIS

       path.path

DESCRIPTION

       A 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.unit(5) 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 inotify(7) 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.

IMPLICIT DEPENDENCIES

       The following dependencies are implicitly added:

       o   If a path unit is beneath another mount unit in the file system hierarchy, both a requirement and an ordering dependency between both
	   units are created automatically.

       o   An implicit Before= dependency is added between a path unit and the unit it is supposed to activate.

DEFAULT DEPENDENCIES

       The following dependencies are added unless DefaultDependencies=no is set:

       o   Path units will automatically have dependencies of type Before= on paths.target, dependencies of type After= and Requires= on
	   sysinit.target, and 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 DefaultDependencies=
	   option.

OPTIONS

       Path 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 the empty string is assigned to
	   any of these options, the list of paths to watch is reset, and any prior assignments of these options will not have any effect.

	   If a path already exists (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= and PathModified=.

	   If the path itself or any of the containing directories are not accessible, systemd will watch for permission changes and notice that
	   conditions are satisfied when permissions allow that.

       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 false.

       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 0755.

SEE ALSO

       systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5), inotify(7), systemd.directives(7)

systemd 237															   SYSTEMD.PATH(5)