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.

       If a path unit is beneath another mount point in the file system hierarchy, a dependency between both
       units is created automatically.

       Unless DefaultDependencies=false is used, 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.

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(8), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5), inotify(7), systemd.directives(7)