Raspberry Pi; Custom systemctl service
Creating a custom systemctl
service on your Raspberry Pi involves a few steps. Below is a step-by-step guide to create a systemd service.
Step 1: Create a Service File
You will need to create a systemd service file. This file will tell systemd how to manage your script.
- Open a terminal on your Raspberry Pi.
- Create a new service file with a
.service
extension in the/etc/systemd/system/
directory. You might name itmyscript.service
. Usenano
or your preferred text editor:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/myscript.service
- Add the following content to the service file:
[Unit]
Description=My Python Script Service
After=network.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/myscript.py
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi
StandardOutput=inherit
StandardError=inherit
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
- Replace
/usr/bin/python3
with the path to your Python interpreter if it’s different. - You may adjust the
Restart
option based on your needs (e.g.,always
,on-failure
, etc.).
- Save and close the file (in nano, press
CTRL + X
, thenY
, andEnter
).
Step 2: Reload Systemd
After creating or modifying a service file, you need to reload the systemd manager configuration to recognize the new service.
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Step 3: Start the Service
Now you can start your service:
sudo systemctl start myscript.service
Step 4: Enable the Service at Boot
If you want your script to run automatically on boot, you can enable the service:
sudo systemctl enable myscript.service
Step 5: Check the Status
To check if your service is running, you can use:
sudo systemctl status myscript.service
This command will show you the current status of your service, including whether it is active or if there are any errors.
Step 6: View Logs
If you need to view logs for your service, you can use journalctl
:
sudo journalctl -u myscript.service
Notes
- Ensure that your Python script has the correct shebang line at the top (e.g.,
#!/usr/bin/env python
) if you want to run it directly without specifying the interpreter. - If your script requires specific environment variables or needs to run in a specific environment (like a virtual environment), you’ll want to handle that within the service file.
- Depending on what your script does, you may also want to consider permissions and user access when running as a service.
By following these steps, you should have a custom systemctl
script running your Python script on your Raspberry Pi.
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