[Documentation] How to create a service file to run at boot, in the init distrobox.

[Aman9das]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I want to install ollama.ai in a systemd container, but for some reason the service doesn't start when entering the distrobox. The container was created with the -I flag.

Describe the solution you'd like
An addition to the documentation near the init containers documentation, about how to make sure a service runs at container bootup.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I've tried to specify the container is After=default.service but it doesn't run on boot :(

Additional context
https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemd.special.html
https://www.howtogeek.com/687970/how-to-run-a-linux-program-at-startup-with-systemd/

[pavinjosdev]

I have a systemd user service file for starting an init distrobox container. Perhaps it's applicable for your use as well.

Create file /etc/systemd/user/distrobox.service with the following contents:

[Unit]
Description=Start distrobox containers

[Service]
Type=oneshot
# Without some delay, distrobox was taking control of audio
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sleep 30
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start deb
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop deb
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Replace deb above with your own container name

Verify config:

systemd-analyze verify /etc/systemd/user/distrobox.service

Enable and start it:

systemctl --user enable --now distrobox.service

[kilesduli]

I have a systemd user service file for starting an init distrobox container. Perhaps it's applicable for your use as well.

Create file /etc/systemd/user/distrobox.service with the following contents:

[Unit]
Description=Start distrobox containers

[Service]
Type=oneshot
# Without some delay, distrobox was taking control of audio
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sleep 30
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start deb
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop deb
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Replace deb above with your own container name

Verify config:

systemd-analyze verify /etc/systemd/user/distrobox.service

Enable and start it:

systemctl --user enable --now distrobox.service

I thought there's a better solution instead of sleep.
Simply set the After and Wants directives to org.gnome.Shell@x11.service or another appropriate service that triggers after user login.
This service should come after -session-manager.service.
For SDDM, consider searching for services with @x11 or @wayland suffix.

[pavinjosdev]

I thought there's a better solution instead of sleep.
Simply set the After and Wants directives to org.gnome.Shell@x11.service or another appropriate service that triggers after user login.

That's a great idea! 🤗
I think After=default.target would be more portable, IIRC that worked for me.
But I ended up keeping the sleep part because my distrobox volumes/mounts depend on some slow starting external USB drives (LUKS encrypted and pooled together as btrfs RAID volume) that are part of the system service manager.

I have no idea how to reconcile the distrobox service file in the user service manager to depend on the startup of services from the system manager. 🤔

EDIT 1: I ended up moving the distrobox startup to the system service manager:

# /etc/systemd/system/container-autostart.service
[Unit]
Description=Start containers on system startup
After=usbraid.mount

[Service]
Type=oneshot
User=pavin
Group=pavin
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start deb jellyfin
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop deb jellyfin
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target

[archerallstars]

I use a --user systemd service to start a Distrobox container at boot. I find the user's systemd service to be simple and safe to use, for example in my ~/.config/systemd/user/cfw-dbx.service:

[Unit]
Description=Start cfw-dbx container for Cloudflare WARP connection.

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=-bash -c "distrobox enter cfw-dbx"
ExecStop=-bash -c "distrobox stop cfw-dbx"
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=1s
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

I use Restart=on-failure since it's hard to pinpoint which service, socket, component, etc. will be ready for Distrobox. I tried with After and Requires in a system service file using default.target, podman.socket, a service that checks for crun to be available, but none of them worked for me.

I put RestartSec=1s so it won't spam my login too much.