Systemd (Startup) Services

For users asking for ways to start custom apps as services on boot or just more easily, I recommend systemd --user services for this job.

Systemd can be used in user mode without need to call sudo to make changes to service states.

User services can be stored like this:

~/.config/systemd/user/foo.service

Just mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user if it does not exist

Once there, this service file can be called like any normal systemd service but with the --user argument.

systemctl enable --now --user foo.service

foo.service would now attempt to be running in your user's context. You can check it with

systemctl status --user foo.service

Some notes about service files:

• Do not include the user or group variables. The systemd service will fail if you specify anything because the service implicitly runs as your user.
• Unless you are bound to the subnet port, do not forget authentication!
• If you are using an rc port, consider binding it to your subnet IP. You can easily communicate with your subnet ip via CLI
• At least, choose a unique port. Consider binding to your subnet port whenever possible (fun fact: subnet bound ports are accessible from your wireguard VPN)
• You need to start your mounts before the media center apps start, so you can try either a Before=plex@tjmack or a PostStart=/usr/bin/sudo box restart plex