systemd fails to run script that otherwise works fine?

Question

I have a golang API that needs to run 24/7 for a nginx proxy backstream.

I have a script..

#!/usr/bin/bash cd /root/api && go run . 

That runs fine manually.

But /etc/systemd/system/api.service fails to start

.service:

[Unit] Description=A go-lang API for the www frontend [Service] Type = simple ExecStart=/root/api.sh 

systemctl status reports

× api.service - A go-lang API for the www frontend Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/api.service; static) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2024-11-21 18:55:03 UTC; 2min 17s ago Duration: 118ms Invocation: e6e602afee2b4bf6b2d623c15fcbb65e Process: 343565 ExecStart=/root/api.sh (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Main PID: 343565 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Mem peak: 2.8M CPU: 50ms 

Answer 1

As Jaromanda says, you should tell systemd when to start this. You should also specify WHERE the go executable is (but rather than provide the path to the exe a better way is to set the PATH in the environment, e.g. Environment="PATH=/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin" under [Service]).

You should also learn how to check your logs when something goes wrong.

And you should not be installing services under the root home dir, NOR running exposed services as root!

Answer 2

Did you check jounrnalctl logs ?

Running as root is not recommended. if you want to run only as root, then try to mention it specifically in your script & try.

It's better to create a separate user to run the API service. Please add a log file as well to debug, which would make things easier.