[Solved] How can I make a custom .service run as root? - eviltoast

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/21668140

I have a VPN daemon that needs to run before the client will work. Normally, this would have been set up automatically by its install script, but the system is immutable.

I’ve created the systemd service via sysyemctl edit --force --full daemon.service with the following parameters:

[Unit] 
Description=Blah
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=root
Group=root
ExecStart=/usr/bin/env /path/to/daemon

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

I’ve verified that the daemon is actually executable, and it runs fine when I manually call it via sudo daemon. When I try to run it with sudo systemctl enable --now daemon.service, it exits with error code 126.

What am I missing?

Edit: Typo, and added the relevant user and group to the Service section. Still throwing a 126.

Solution: the system wanted /usr/bin/env in ExecStart to launch the binary. The .service file above has been edited to show the working solution.

  • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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    4 months ago

    Is that necessary for processes running as root? AfaIk, root is default.

    Keywords should be in CamelCase format, thus the space in Wanted By is wrong.

    • nhowell77@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Honestly can’t believe I completely missed the space in Wanted By. This is likely the bigger culprit to the failed to run error. Poster above me is correct should read

      WantedBy

    • Telorand@reddthat.comOP
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      4 months ago

      Foiled by autocorrect! There’s no space in the original file, and I’ve edited my post to reflect that.