systemd/man/systemd-run.xml

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<refentry id="systemd-run"
          xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">

  <refentryinfo>
    <title>systemd-run</title>
    <productname>systemd</productname>

    <authorgroup>
      <author>
        <contrib>Developer</contrib>
        <firstname>Lennart</firstname>
        <surname>Poettering</surname>
        <email>lennart@poettering.net</email>
      </author>
    </authorgroup>
  </refentryinfo>

  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>systemd-run</refentrytitle>
    <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  </refmeta>

  <refnamediv>
    <refname>systemd-run</refname>
    <refpurpose>Run programs in transient scope or service or timer units</refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>

  <refsynopsisdiv>
    <cmdsynopsis>
      <command>systemd-run</command>
      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
      <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>COMMAND</replaceable>
      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">ARGS</arg>
      </arg>
    </cmdsynopsis>
    <cmdsynopsis>
      <command>systemd-run</command>
      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">TIMER OPTIONS</arg>
      <arg choice="req"><replaceable>COMMAND</replaceable></arg>
      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">ARGS</arg>
    </cmdsynopsis>
  </refsynopsisdiv>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>

    <para><command>systemd-run</command> may be used to create and
    start a transient <filename>.service</filename> or a transient
    <filename>.timer</filename> or a <filename>.scope</filename> unit
    and run the specified <replaceable>COMMAND</replaceable> in
    it.</para>

    <para>If a command is run as transient service unit, it will be
    started and managed by the service manager like any other service,
    and thus show up in the output of <command>systemctl
    list-units</command> like any other unit. It will run in a clean
    and detached execution environment. <command>systemd-run</command>
    will start the service asynchronously in the background and
    immediately return.</para>

    <para>If a command is run with timer options, transient timer unit
    also be created with transient service unit. But the transient
    timer unit is only started immediately. The transient service unit
    will be started when the transient timer is elapsed. If
    <option>--unit=</option> is specified with timer options, the
    <replaceable>COMMAND</replaceable> can be omitted. In this case,
    <command>systemd-run</command> assumes service unit is already
    loaded and creates transient timer unit only. To successfully
    create timer unit, already loaded service unit should be specified
    with <option>--unit=</option>. This transient timer unit can
    activate the existing service unit like any other timer.</para>

    <para>If a command is run as transient scope unit, it will be
    started directly by <command>systemd-run</command> and thus
    inherit the execution environment of the caller. It is however
    managed by the service manager similar to normal services, and
    will also show up in the output of <command>systemctl
    list-units</command>. Execution in this case is synchronous, and
    execution will return only when the command finishes.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Options</title>

    <para>The following options are understood:</para>

    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--scope</option></term>

        <listitem>
          <para>Create a transient <filename>.scope</filename> unit instead of
          the default transient <filename>.service</filename> unit.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--unit=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Use this unit name instead of an automatically
        generated one.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--property=</option></term>
        <term><option>-p</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Sets a unit property for the scope or service
        unit that is created. This takes an assignment in the same
        format as
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>'s
        <command>set-property</command> command.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--description=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Provide a description for the service or scope
        unit. If not specified, the command itself will be used as a
        description. See <varname>Description=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
        </para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--slice=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Make the new <filename>.service</filename> or
        <filename>.scope</filename> unit part of the specified slice,
        instead of the <filename>system.slice</filename>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--remain-after-exit</option></term>

        <listitem><para>After the service or scope process has
        terminated, keep the service around until it is explicitly
        stopped. This is useful to collect runtime information about
        the service after it finished running. Also see
        <varname>RemainAfterExit=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
        </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--send-sighup</option></term>

        <listitem><para>When terminating the scope or service unit,
        send a SIGHUP immediately after SIGTERM. This is useful to
        indicate to shells and shell-like processes that the
        connection has been severed. Also see
        <varname>SendSIGHUP=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
        </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--service-type=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Sets the service type. Also see
        <varname>Type=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. This
        option has no effect in conjunction with
        <option>--scope</option>. Defaults to
        <constant>simple</constant>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--uid=</option></term>
        <term><option>--gid=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Runs the service process under the UNIX user
        and group. Also see <varname>User=</varname> and
        <varname>Group=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--nice=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Runs the service process with the specified
        nice level. Also see <varname>Nice=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--setenv=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Runs the service process with the specified
        environment variables set. Also see
        <varname>Environment=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--pty</option></term>
        <term><option>-t</option></term>

        <listitem><para>When invoking a command as service connects
        its standard input and output to the invoking tty via a
        pseudo TTY device. This allows invoking binaries as services
        that expect interactive user input, such as interactive
        command shells.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--quiet</option></term>
        <term><option>-q</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Suppresses additional informational output
        while running. This is particularly useful in combination with
        <option>--pty</option> when it will suppress the initial
        message explaining how to terminate the TTY connection.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--on-active=</option></term>
        <term><option>--on-boot=</option></term>
        <term><option>--on-startup=</option></term>
        <term><option>--on-unit-active=</option></term>
        <term><option>--on-unit-inactive=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Defines monotonic timers relative to different
        starting points. Also see <varname>OnActiveSec=</varname>,
        <varname>OnBootSec=</varname>,
        <varname>OnStartupSec=</varname>,
        <varname>OnUnitActiveSec=</varname> and
        <varname>OnUnitInactiveSec=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. This
        options have no effect in conjunction with
        <option>--scope</option>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--on-calendar=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Defines realtime (i.e. wallclock) timers with
        calendar event expressions. Also see
        <varname>OnCalendar=</varname> in
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. This
        option has no effect in conjunction with
        <option>--scope</option>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--timer-property=</option></term>

        <listitem><para>Sets a timer unit property for the timer unit
        that is created. It is similar with
        <option>--property</option> but only for created timer
        unit. This option only has effect in conjunction with
        <option>--on-active=</option>, <option>--on-boot=</option>,
        <option>--on-startup=</option>,
        <option>--on-unit-active=</option>,
        <option>--on-unit-inactive=</option>,
        <option>--on-calendar=</option>. This takes an assignment in
        the same format as
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>'s
        <command>set-property</command> command.</para> </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>--no-block</option></term>

        <listitem>
          <para>Do not synchronously wait for the requested operation
          to finish. If this is not specified, the job will be
          verified, enqueued and <command>systemd-run</command> will
          wait until the unit's start-up is completed. By passing this
          argument, it is only verified and enqueued.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <xi:include href="user-system-options.xml" xpointer="user" />
      <xi:include href="user-system-options.xml" xpointer="system" />
      <xi:include href="user-system-options.xml" xpointer="host" />
      <xi:include href="user-system-options.xml" xpointer="machine" />

      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
    </variablelist>

    <para>All command line arguments after the first non-option
    argument become part of the command line of the launched
    process. If a command is run as service unit, its first argument
    needs to be an absolute binary path.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Exit status</title>

    <para>On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure
    code otherwise.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Examples</title>

    <para>The following command will log the environment variables
    provided by systemd to services:</para>

    <programlisting># systemd-run env
Running as unit run-19945.service.
# journalctl -u run-19945.service
Sep 08 07:37:21 bupkis systemd[1]: Starting /usr/bin/env...
Sep 08 07:37:21 bupkis systemd[1]: Started /usr/bin/env.
Sep 08 07:37:21 bupkis env[19948]: PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
Sep 08 07:37:21 bupkis env[19948]: LANG=en_US.UTF-8
Sep 08 07:37:21 bupkis env[19948]: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.11.0-0.rc5.git6.2.fc20.x86_64</programlisting>

    <para>The following command invokes the
    <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>updatedb</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    tool, but lowers the block IO weight for it to 10. See
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    for more information on the <varname>BlockIOWeight=</varname>
    property.</para>

    <programlisting># systemd-run -p BlockIOWeight=10 updatedb</programlisting>

    <para>The following command will touch a file after 30 seconds.</para>

    <programlisting># date; systemd-run --on-active=30 --timer-property=AccuracySec=100ms /bin/touch /tmp/foo
Mon Dec  8 20:44:24 KST 2014
Running as unit run-71.timer.
Will run as unit run-71.service.
# journalctl -b -u run-71.timer
-- Logs begin at Fri 2014-12-05 19:09:21 KST, end at Mon 2014-12-08 20:44:54 KST. --
Dec 08 20:44:38 container systemd[1]: Starting /bin/touch /tmp/foo.
Dec 08 20:44:38 container systemd[1]: Started /bin/touch /tmp/foo.
# journalctl -b -u run-71.service
-- Logs begin at Fri 2014-12-05 19:09:21 KST, end at Mon 2014-12-08 20:44:54 KST. --
Dec 08 20:44:48 container systemd[1]: Starting /bin/touch /tmp/foo...
Dec 08 20:44:48 container systemd[1]: Started /bin/touch /tmp/foo.</programlisting>

    <para>The following command invokes <filename>/bin/bash</filename>
    as a service passing its standard input, output and error to
    the calling TTY.</para>

    <programlisting># systemd-run -t /bin/bash</programlisting>

  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>See Also</title>
    <para>
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.scope</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.slice</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machinectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    </para>
  </refsect1>

</refentry>