systemd.path — systemd path configuration files
systemd.path
A unit configuration file whose name ends in
                .path encodes information about
                a path monitored by systemd, for
                path-based activation.
This man page lists the configuration options specific to this unit type. See systemd.unit(5) for the common options of all unit configuration files. The common configuration items are configured in the generic [Unit] and [Install] sections. The path specific configuration options are configured in the [Path] section.
For each path file, a matching unit file must
                exist, describing the unit to activate when the path
                changes. By default, a service by the same name as the
                path (except for the suffix) is activated. Example: a
                path file foo.path activates a
                matching service foo.service. The
                unit to activate may be controlled by
                Unit= (see below).
Internally, path units use the inotify(7) API to monitor file systems. Due to that, it suffers by the same limitations as inotify, and for example cannot be used to monitor files or directories changed by other machines on remote NFS file systems.
If an path unit is beneath another mount point in the file system hierarchy, a dependency between both units is created automatically.
Unless DefaultDependencies=
                is set to false, path units will
                implicitly have dependencies of type
                Conflicts= and
                Before= on
                shutdown.target. These ensure
                that path units are terminated cleanly prior to system
                shutdown. Only path units involved with early boot or
                late system shutdown should disable this
                option.
Path files must include a [Path] section, which carries information about the path(s) it monitors. The options specific to the [Path] section of path units are the following:
PathExists=, PathExistsGlob=, PathChanged=, PathModified=, DirectoryNotEmpty=Defines paths to
                                monitor for certain changes:
                                PathExists= may be
                                used to watch the mere existence of a
                                file or directory. If the file
                                specified exists the configured unit
                                is
                                activated. PathExistsGlob=
                                works similar, but checks for the
                                existance of at least one file
                                matching the globbing pattern
                                specified. PathChanged=
                                may be used to watch a file or
                                directory and activate the configured
                                unit whenever it changes. It is not activated
                                on every write to the watched file but it is
                                activated if the file which was open for writing
                                gets closed. PathModified=
                                is similar, but additionally it is activated
                                also on simple writes to the watched file.
                                DirectoryNotEmpty=
                                may be used to watch a directory and
                                activate the configured unit whenever
                                it contains at least one file.
The arguments of these directives must be absolute file system paths.
Multiple directives may be combined, of the same and of different types, to watch multiple paths.
If a path is already existing
                                (in case of
                                PathExists= and
                                PathExistsGlob=) or
                                a directory already is not empty (in
                                case of
                                DirectoryNotEmpty=)
                                at the time the path unit is
                                activated, then the configured unit is
                                immediately activated as
                                well. Something similar does not apply
                                to PathChanged=.
                                
Unit=The unit to activate
                                when any of the configured paths
                                changes. The argument is a unit name,
                                whose suffix is not
                                .path. If not
                                specified, this value defaults to a
                                service that has the same name as the
                                path unit, except for the suffix. (See
                                above.) It is recommended that the
                                unit name that is activated and the
                                unit name of the path unit are named
                                identical, except for the
                                suffix.
MakeDirectory=Takes a boolean
                                argument. If true the directories to
                                watch are created before
                                watching. This option is ignored for
                                PathExists=
                                settings. Defaults to
                                false.
DirectoryMode=If
                                MakeDirectory= is
                                enabled use the mode specified here to
                                create the directories in
                                question. Takes an access mode in
                                octal notation. Defaults to
                                0755.