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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Systemd timer unit (feddit.de)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I try to create a timer unit for weekly and daily backups. For example with the weekly unit, it should be executed once in a week, some minutes after login. If the unit was successful, it should shutdown and not start again until the next week. If a start of this unit was missing, it should be start again some minutes after the next login.

But for some unknown reason, the current unit starts after every login when I reboot the laptop. I am relatively sure that this timer unit is set up wrong, but unfortunately I don't know how I can implement such a unit better with the functions mentioned above.

[Unit]
Description=Run backup weekly
Requires=backup.service

[Timer]
Unit=backup.service
OnCalendar=weekly
RandomizedDelaySec=120
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Your systemd file looks ok, but I think it’s doing exactly what you are telling it.

The solution may lie in the backup.service. Is that code you can modify? The OnCalendar=weekly doesn’t specify when in the week the service should run so that config may be vague.

If I understand the desired function here, you will need the service up all the time. It will just wait politely and occasionally run the specific backup script. It’s up to the backup script to determine when the last backup was made and either exit early because it hasn’t been a week or run the backup and reset a flag file.

At least that’s the approach I would take. Systemd is a very vigilant, but very stupid, service manager. It just watches and triggers services based on just a few criteria. Any logic more complex needs to go in the service itself.