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My custom service fails to start with systemctl. It just says "failed" without useful information. How can I debug this?
Q&A · Answered
systemctl service failing to start - debugging steps
1 Answer
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Accepted answer
Not confirmed since it was written, 9 months, 1 week ago
Here's a comprehensive approach to debug systemd service failures:
Check service status and logs
# Get detailed status
sudo systemctl status yourservice.service -l
# View recent logs
sudo journalctl -u yourservice.service -n 50 --no-pager
# Follow logs in real-time
sudo journalctl -u yourservice.service -fTest the command manually
# Check your service file
cat /etc/systemd/system/yourservice.service
# Run the ExecStart command manually to see errors
/path/to/your/commandCommon fixes
# Reload after editing service file
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
# Check permissions on executable
ls -la /path/to/your/command
# Check working directory exists
ls -la /path/to/working/dirYour answer
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