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There are many different places where systemd unit files may be placed. Is there a quick and easy way to ask systemd where it read a service’s declaration from, given just the service name?

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For units that are defined in actual, static files, this can be seen in systemctl status:

$ systemctl status halt-local.service ● halt-local.service - /usr/sbin/halt.local Compatibility Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/halt-local.service; static) Active: inactive (dead)

But there are units that are not defined by files, e.g. with systemd-cron installed. These have no useful location listed with status:

$ systemctl status cron-jojo-0.timer ● cron-jojo-0.timer - [Cron] "*/10 * * * * ..." Loaded: loaded (/var/spool/cron/crontabs/jojo) Active: active (waiting) since Mon 2015-05-18 14:53:01 UTC; 9min ago

In either case, though, the FragmentPath field is educating:

$ systemctl show -P FragmentPath cron-daily.service /lib/systemd/system/cron-daily.service $ systemctl show -P FragmentPath cron-jojo-0.service /run/systemd/generator/cron-jojo-0.service $ systemctl show -P FragmentPath halt-local.service /lib/systemd/system/halt-local.service
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  • How about the path of some mask service? (not all of them are in /lib/systemd/system or /usr/lib/systemd/system) Commented Oct 31, 2020 at 15:28
  • Good, but partial, answer. But FragmentPath can be empty, e.g: systemctl show -p FragmentPath subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device Commented Mar 31, 2022 at 19:09
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    You can also use -p instead of -P if you prefer to see FragmentPath= before the response. Commented Nov 9, 2023 at 12:28
  • This answer is good. But got generated services - not that useful. I want to see how a service was generated. Is this possible? Presently I only see Loaded: loaded (/etc/containers/systemd/users/1002/pgsql.container; generated). Ok I found. systemctl cat my.service or systemctl show my.service. Thanks to serverfault.com/q/1091541/70242 Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 13:23
  • I noticed you can also use a wild card, like this: systemctl show -P FragmentPath *.service --no-pager Commented Jan 6 at 10:43
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You could cat the systemd unit. This shows the file location as comments. Bonus: It also shows overrides.

systemctl cat sssd # /lib/systemd/system/sssd.service [Unit] ... # /etc/systemd/system/sssd.service.d/override.conf [Unit] ...
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    Neat, especially with the override! As my other solution it does not work for stuff like net-devices-eth0.device. Commented Jun 15, 2022 at 18:40
  • Use a wildcard: systemctl cat *.service --no-pager Commented Jan 6 at 10:44
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You could do this (using nullmailer as an example):

systemctl show nullmailer | grep FragmentPath | awk -F'=' '{print $2}'

That will produce something like this:

/lib/systemd/system/nullmailer.service

Then to see the service file content, you could do this:

cat $(systemctl show nullmailer | grep FragmentPath | awk -F'=' '{print $2}')

And that would produce something like this:

[Unit] Description=nullmailer [Unit] Description=Nullmailer relay-only MTA ... stuff omitted for brevity ... [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target

Hope it helps.

PS. I typically put those commands in an alias file just for convenience.

P.PS. As Joaquin mentioned, you can use the -P flag instead of using the grep|awk combo I was using/mentioning.

systemctl show nullmailer -P FragmentPath
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    Why do you use grep and awk when systemctl supports -P to print just one field? Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 10:04
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    @JoachimBreitner - well, I learned something today. Thanks! Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 14:46
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This below one gives multiple file locations

show -- Show properties of one or more units/jobs or the manager

-p --property=NAME Show only properties by this name

$ systemctl show -p FragmentPath {accounts-daemon,ntp,sshd} FragmentPath=/lib/systemd/system/accounts-daemon.service FragmentPath=/lib/systemd/system/ntp.service FragmentPath=/lib/systemd/system/ssh.service
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  • Note that systemctl show -p FragmentPath {accounts-daemon,ntp,sshd} becomes systemctl show -p FragmentPath accounts-daemon ntp sshd after the shell performs brace expansion. Commented Mar 6, 2024 at 18:42

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