Enabled Systemd Service Not Starting

Enabled Systemd Service Not Starting

I have two systemd services, one is a flask app meant to proxy calls to a C backend. While the flask app works the C program does not start at boot.

My service file looks like this:

[Unit]
Description=my backend
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
User=root
ExecStart=/home/root/camtool
Type=dbus
BusName=com.camera
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

and i have enabled the service like this: systemctl enable camtool.service

The service starts if i do a systemctl start camtool.service but if i reboot the device, the service is not started.

output of systemctl status camtool:

● camtool.service - my backend
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/camtool.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead)

If i check journalctl, there are no entries.

journalctl -u camtool
-- Logs begin at Wed 2021-07-14 14:12:26 UTC, end at Wed 2021-07-14 14:16:26 UTC. --
-- No entries --

I am unsure how to debug this further, as there does not seem to be any error messages. How can i proceed to figure out why the program didn't start? is there a way i can verify if it was even attempted?

The C program use DBUS to expose functions for the flask app, and stream data via sockets.

2

1 Answer

It seems i fixed the problem by re enabling the service. I had made many changes to try and fix the file, but when i disabled and re enabled i realised the symlink was in the wrong place.

By disabling and enabling this was fixed. I would recommend to disable and re enable when ever changes are made to the areas concerning targets.

Before i did that i added the wantedby=multi-user.target.

The commands looked like this:

root@system:~# systemctl disable camtool
Removed /etc/systemd/system/
root@system:~# systemctl enable camtool
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/ → /etc/systemd/system/camtool.service.

Now it boots with the system.

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Alexander Ross
Author

Alexander Ross

Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.