systemd-run(1)

Do not pipe output into a pager. This currently only applies to --help. (The pager is not started during normal operation.)

Added in version 258.

.RE

.PP --json= may not be combined with --scope, --pty, --pty-late, --pipe, --verbose, or path, socket, or timer options.

.PP All command line arguments after the first non-option argument become part of the command line of the launched process.

.SH "EXIT STATUS"

.PP On success, 0 is returned. If systemd-run failed to start the service, a non-zero return value will be returned. If systemd-run waits for the service to terminate, the return value will be propagated from the service. 0 will be returned on success, including all the cases where systemd considers a service to have exited cleanly, see the discussion of SuccessExitStatus= in systemd.service(5).

.SH "EXAMPLES"

.PP Example 1. Logging environment variables provided by systemd to services

# 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

.PP Example 2. Limiting resources available to a command

# systemd-run -p IOWeight=10 updatedb

.PP This command invokes the updatedb(8) tool, but lowers the block I/O weight for it to 10. See systemd.resource-control(5) for more information on the IOWeight= property.

.PP Example 3. Running commands at a specified time

.PP The following command will touch a file after 30 seconds.

# 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 service as unit: run-71.service
# journalctl -b -u run-71.timer
-- Journal begins at Fri 2014-12-05 19:09:21 KST, ends 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
-- Journal begins at Fri 2014-12-05 19:09:21 KST, ends 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.

.PP Example 4. Allowing access to the tty

.PP The following command invokes bash(1) as a service passing its standard input, output and error to the calling TTY.

# systemd-run -t --send-sighup bash

.PP Example 5. Start screen as a user service

$ systemd-run --scope --user screen
Running scope as unit run-r14b0047ab6df45bfb45e7786cc839e76.scope.
$ screen -ls
There is a screen on:


        492..laptop     (Detached)
1 Socket in /var/run/screen/S-fatima.

.PP This starts the screen process as a child of the systemd --user process that was started by user@.service, in a scope unit. A systemd.scope(5) unit is used instead of a systemd.service(5) unit, because screen will exit when detaching from the terminal, and a service unit would be terminated. Running screen as a user unit has the advantage that it is not part of the session scope. If KillUserProcesses=yes is configured in logind.conf(5) (defaults to yes), the session scope will be terminated when the user logs out of that session.

.PP The user@.service is started automatically when the user first logs in, and stays around as long as at least one login session is open. After the user logs out of the last session, user@.service and all services underneath it are terminated. This behavior is the default, when "lingering" is not enabled for that user. Enabling lingering means that user@.service is started automatically during boot, even if the user is not logged in, and that the service is not terminated when the user logs out.

.PP Enabling lingering allows the user to run processes without being logged in, for example to allow screen to persist after the user logs out, even if the session scope is terminated. In the default configuration, users can enable lingering for themselves:

$ loginctl enable-linger

.PP Example 6. Variable expansion by the manager

$ systemd-run -t echo "<${INVOCATION_ID}>" '<${INVOCATION_ID}>'


      <> <5d0149bfa2c34b79bccb13074001eb20>

.PP The first argument is expanded by the shell (double quotes), but the second one is not expanded by the shell (single quotes). echo(1) is called with [/usr/bin/echo, <>, <${INVOCATION_ID}>] as the argument array, and then systemd(1) generates ${INVOCATION_ID} and substitutes it in the command-line. This substitution could not be done on the client side, because the target ID that will be set for the service is not known before the call is made.

.PP Example 7. Variable expansion and output redirection using a shell

.PP Variable expansion by systemd(1) can be disabled with --expand-environment=no.

.PP Disabling variable expansion can be useful if the command to execute contains dollar characters and escaping them would be inconvenient. For example, when a shell is used:

$ systemd-run --expand-environment=no -t bash \


      -c 'echo $SHELL $$ >/dev/stdout'
/bin/bash 12345

.PP The last argument is passed verbatim to the bash(1) shell which is started by the service unit. The shell expands $SHELL to the path of the shell, and $$ to its process number, and then those strings are passed to the echo built-in and printed to standard output (which, in this case, is connected to the calling terminal).

.PP Example 8. Return value

$ systemd-run --user --wait true
$ systemd-run --user --wait -p SuccessExitStatus=11 bash -c 'exit 11'
$ systemd-run --user --wait -p SuccessExitStatus=SIGUSR1 --expand-environment=no \


      bash -c 'kill -SIGUSR1 $$'

.PP Those three invocations will succeed, i.e. terminate with an exit code of 0.

.SH "SEE ALSO"

.PP systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5), systemd.scope(5), systemd.slice(5), systemd.exec(5), systemd.resource-control(5), systemd.timer(5), systemd-mount(1), machinectl(1), run0(1)