Systemd service files in non-default directory

Question

The default directory of service files is: etc/systemd/system and while this works ok, I was wondering if it was possible to specify another directory where service files can be put. The reason I want this is because I'd like to keep the service files that belong to the software that I'm writing together.

Do you know if this is possible?

Solution

Actually the real service files are in /lib/systemd/system. Symlinks to them are created in /etc/systemd/system when the services are enabled.

If you want to put your service files somewhere else, go ahead, but when you want to enable the service, you must specify the full path to the real service file so that systemd can make the symlink to /etc/systemd/system, eg:

sudo systemctl enable /path/to/my-service-file

Comments

[Admin]

If this is for a package, the default directory is not /etc/systemd/system, but /lib/systemd/system. That said, why not put all your service files somewhere and create links to /lib/systemd/system?

[John]

It's giving me Access denied even with sudo

[John]

Nevermind, here's the solution superuser.com/questions/1125250/…

[Zanna]

@John thanks for investigating and providing that link!