Restart plasmashell on a schedule: Cron? Systemd timer? Edit system file?

shmu26 · 15 November 2022 16:48

I think that path was an issue because the bash script I tried to run was in

/home/shmuel/

and that location is not on $PATH by default.
However,

/home/shmuel/.local/bin

Is on $PATH, so I created that folder, and now put my bash script in it.

shmu26 · 15 November 2022 17:54

When I start the systemd timer service that I just now created (let’s forget about the cron job) I get this error:

Nov 15 19:49:41 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: Started "kill and restart Plasmashell".
Nov 15 19:49:41 shmuel-manjaro kquitapp5[19610]: "Application plasmashell could not be found using service org.kde.plasmashell and path /MainApplication."

mithrial · 15 November 2022 17:56

PATH doesn’t matter because systemd services need the absolute path for the ExecStart directive.

Please start sharing all information.

shmu26 · 15 November 2022 19:18

What info would you like to see?
I can’t post info about the cron job that was the original subject of this thread, because on advice of the community, I made a systemd timer job instead. That is what I am now trying to deal with. Maybe my last post was not so clear, so I will edit it.

mithrial · 15 November 2022 20:25

The service file, the timer file, the script, and all logs concerting these three elements.

shmu26 · 16 November 2022 02:18

restart_plasmashell.service

[Unit]
Description="kill and restart Plasmashell"

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/shmuel/.local/bin/plasmashell_restart.sh

restart_plasmashell.timer

[Unit]
Description="kill and restart Plasmashell"

[Timer]
OnBootSec=60min
OnUnitActiveSec=1h
Unit=restart_plasmashell.service

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

plasmashell_restart.sh

#!/bin/bash
kquitapp5 plasmashell && kstart5 plasmashell

I ran:

sudo systemctl start restart_plasmashell.service
[sudo] password for shmuel: 
    ~/.lo/bin 

And I got:

journalctl -S today -f -u restar
t_plasmashell.service
Nov 16 00:12:27 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: Started
"kill and restart Plasmashell".
Nov 16 00:12:27 shmuel-manjaro kquitapp5[40564]: "A
pplication plasmashell could not be found using ser
vice org.kde.plasmashell and path /MainApplication.
"
Nov 16 00:12:27 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Main process exited, code=exit
ed, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 16 00:12:27 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'
.
Nov 16 01:12:57 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: Started
"kill and restart Plasmashell".
Nov 16 01:12:57 shmuel-manjaro kquitapp5[43623]: "A
pplication plasmashell could not be found using ser
vice org.kde.plasmashell and path /MainApplication.
"
Nov 16 01:12:57 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Main process exited, code=exit
ed, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 16 01:12:57 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'
.
Nov 16 02:13:07 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: Started
"kill and restart Plasmashell".
Nov 16 02:13:07 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Main process exited, code=exit
ed, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 16 02:13:07 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'
.
Nov 16 03:13:17 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: Started
"kill and restart Plasmashell".
Nov 16 03:13:17 shmuel-manjaro kquitapp5[49485]: "A
pplication plasmashell could not be found using ser
vice org.kde.plasmashell and path /MainApplication.
"
Nov 16 03:13:17 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Main process exited, code=exit
ed, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 16 03:13:17 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'
.
Nov 16 04:13:18 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: Started
"kill and restart Plasmashell".
Nov 16 04:13:18 shmuel-manjaro kquitapp5[52971]: "A
pplication plasmashell could not be found using ser
vice org.kde.plasmashell and path /MainApplication.
"
Nov 16 04:13:18 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Main process exited, code=exit
ed, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 16 04:13:18 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'
.
Nov 16 04:16:12 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: Started
"kill and restart Plasmashell".
Nov 16 04:16:12 shmuel-manjaro kquitapp5[53666]: "A
pplication plasmashell could not be found using ser
vice org.kde.plasmashell and path /MainApplication.
"
Nov 16 04:16:12 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Main process exited, code=exit
ed, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 16 04:16:12 shmuel-manjaro systemd[1]: restart_
plasmashell.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'
.

zbe · 16 November 2022 05:34

You missed the point. Service already exists: /usr/lib/systemd/user/plasma-plasmashell.service

And to be honest, you probably don’t even need a timer. Just copy it under /etc/systemd/user/ and edit/add:

RuntimeMaxSec=3600
Restart=always

Not sure if this will work though. BUT! As it was already said, fix underlying issue if there even is one. This automatical restarting of plasmashell makes zero sense.

shmu26 · 16 November 2022 05:49

I don’t understand the point you are making. Can you please explain it?

zbe · 16 November 2022 06:37

I already did. Plasma runs as a systemd service. Already. You just restart that.

mithrial · 16 November 2022 07:44

If you want to run it as your user, you have to put it into ~/.config/systemd/user/ and run it with
systemctl --user (no sudo).

zbe · 16 November 2022 07:57

It already runs as a user service, so no need for that. Just what I said in post #27.

TriMoon · 16 November 2022 14:58

That is useless because the script(process) does not stay running

@shmu26 , don’t use the timer functionality yet, first try to make your user-service unit work as expected, eg. successfully restarts your plasmashell.
Only after that works, you can add the timer to make it execute at your desired interval(s).

And as noted a few times, it needs to be a user-service not a global one under /etc/systemd/system and the like…

shmu26 · 16 November 2022 15:35

So I tried that way, too, following this tutorial

and also this one
https://www.xf.is/2020/06/27/configuring-systemd-user-timer/
But with both, when testing the service, I got an error message that it is not configured to run with systemctl, even though the content of the service file was the same as when I tried it globally.

TriMoon · 16 November 2022 15:51

Try to fix that first…
Post the location where you placed the service file plus it’s contents, plus the command you used that gave you the error message inclusive the exact message you got.

shmu26 · 16 November 2022 15:55

@TriMoon Thanks a lot for the help. To you and to everyone. I think I am going back to my Manjaro Gnome installation, at least for the meantime. This is tiring me out…

rene · 16 November 2022 16:12

While I’d agree with you there… since a few versions Cinnamon has in fact integrated the by poster sought functionality natively: https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/03/01/restart-cinnamon.jpg

mithrial · 16 November 2022 16:13

That can’t be right, right? right??

Edit: It really is real.

rene · 16 November 2022 16:14

Certainly can’t – but it’s there alright, and a fair few reviews around the web hailed it as a great advancement. Yes, I know…

zbe · 16 November 2022 16:16

Huh? I have it running and manually restarting just fine. (Didn’t test RuntimeMaxSec, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t restart it just the same.)

That’s because you are overcomplicating things. And we all are making 50 posts long topic about how to restart something.

TriMoon · 16 November 2022 16:21

That is a setting that limits the max time allowed for a process to stay running, that’s why i said that
https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.service.html#RuntimeMaxSec=