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Execute script located in $HOME from system systemd service (lemmy.blackeco.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hello,

I have been trying to create a system service that would run a script on shutdown (hence why I went for a system service over a user service) and landed on something like this

[Unit]
Description=Run backup script on shutdown
DefaultDependencies=no
Before=poweroff.target halt.target
Requires=network.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=true
ExecStart=/bin/true
ExecStop=/var/home/blackeco/scripts/backup.sh
User=blackeco
Group=blackeco

[Install]
WantedBy=poweroff.target halt.target

Unfortunately, when the shutdown occurs, systemd fails to execute the script:

backup-on-shutdown.service: Unable to locate executable '/var/home/blackeco/scripts/backup.sh': Permission denied
backup-on-shutdown.service: Failed at step EXEC spawning /var/home/blackeco/scripts/backup.sh: Permission denied

This script is correctly owned by user blackeco and permissions look fine

$ ls -la /var/home/blackeco/scripts
drwxr-xr-x. 1 blackeco blackeco 154  5 Feb. 13:50 ./
drwxr-xr-x. 1 blackeco blackeco 116  3 Feb. 13:07 ../
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 blackeco blackeco 794  4 Feb. 15:44 backup.sh*

I'm very puzzled as to why. I'm running Bluefin 41 (itself based on Fedora Silverblue 41).

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

As I said, this is a system service

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This seems to be a systemd feature, system services can't touch home directories by default.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/684074

I think a user script would still work. Or you could set the flag that would let system services access your home.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I would try ProtectHome=read-only but then restic wouldn't be able to write its local cache to ~/.restic.

I went for a user service first to make my life easier, but unfortunately you can't use targets poweroff.target and halt.target

Unit /etc/systemd/user/backup-on-shutdown.service is added as a dependency to a non-existent unit poweroff.target
Unit /etc/systemd/user/backup-on-shutdown.service is added as a dependency to a non-existent unit halt.target.

I may be in a bind then...