Bug: Invalid quoting in systemd service file shown in docs about kanata HOT 5 CLOSED

In my case this error was caused by which not finding the executable in $HOME/.cargo/bin. Copying it to /usr/local/bin fixed the issue. Haven't taken the time to figure out the solution or the problem so cannot share any more details.

from kanata.

I've also tried to escape the quotes with \' but this resulted in a different error

kanata.service - Kanata keyboard remapper
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/user/kanata.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2024-07-24 15:52:30 CEST; 3s ago
   Duration: 5ms
       Docs: https://github.com/jtroo/kanata
    Process: 11542 ExecStart=/usr/bin/sh -c 'exec $$(which kanata) --cfg $${HOME}/.config/kanata/config.kbd' (code=exited, status=2)
   Main PID: 11542 (code=exited, status=2)
        CPU: 4ms

Started kanata.service - Kanata keyboard remapper.
$(which: -c: line 1: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `''
kanata.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=2/INVALIDARGUMENT
kanata.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

from kanata.

Interesting 🤔

Any improvement to the doc would be welcome! This has apparently worked for someone since they contributed the suggestion, but perhaps it doesn't work in all versions/configurations of systemd.

from kanata.

I didn't have much time lately to look at this problem again, unfortunately, but thanks to the help on the systemd matrix room I now have a working solution not involving the shell at all.

[Unit]
Description=Kanata keyboard remapper
Documentation=https://github.com/jtroo/kanata

[Service]
Environment=PATH=%h/.cargo/bin
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
ExecSearchPath=%h/.cargo/bin
Type=simple
ExecStart=kanata --cfg %h/.config/kanata/kanata.kbd
Restart=no

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

PATH and ExecSearchPath obviously needs to be adjusted if kanata was not installed via cargo but this executes kanata without the need for a shell exec. The %h is a systemd specifier for the home directory of the user running the current service manager. So if you are currently the user Bob and execute systemctl --user start kanata.service %h would resolve to /home/Bob

from kanata.

I should note that, in my case, I also had to set ExecSearchPath in order for systemd to find kanata. Only setting PATH did not suffice for me.

from kanata.