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).
As I said, this is a system service
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.
I would try
ProtectHome=read-onlybut 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.targetandhalt.targetUnit /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…