SYSTEMD....GENERATOR(7) systemd.environment-generator SYSTEMD....GENERATOR(7)
NAME
systemd.environment-generator - systemd environment file generators
SYNOPSIS
/usr/lib/systemd/system-environment-generators/some-generator
/usr/lib/systemd/user-environment-generators/some-generator
/run/systemd/system-environment-generators/*
/etc/systemd/system-environment-generators/*
/usr/local/lib/systemd/system-environment-generators/*
/usr/lib/systemd/system-environment-generators/*
/run/systemd/user-environment-generators/*
/etc/systemd/user-environment-generators/*
/usr/local/lib/systemd/user-environment-generators/*
/usr/lib/systemd/user-environment-generators/*
DESCRIPTION
Generators are small executables that live in
/usr/lib/systemd/system-environment-generators/ and other directories
listed above. systemd(1) will execute those binaries very early at the
startup of each manager and at configuration reload time, before running
the generators described in systemd.generator(7) and before starting any
units. Environment generators can override the environment that the
manager exports to services and other processes.
Generators are loaded from a set of paths determined during compilation,
as listed above. System and user environment generators are loaded from
directories with names ending in system-environment-generators/ and
user-environment-generators/, respectively. Generators found in
directories listed earlier override the ones with the same name in
directories lower in the list [1]. A symlink to /dev/null or an empty
file can be used to mask a generator, thereby preventing it from
running. Please note that the order of the two directories with the
highest priority is reversed with respect to the unit load path, and
generators in /run/ overwrite those in /etc/.
After installing new generators or updating the configuration, systemctl
daemon-reload may be executed. This will re-run all generators, updating
environment configuration. It will be used for any services that are
started subsequently.
Environment file generators are executed similarly to unit file
generators described in systemd.generator(7), with the following
differences:
• Generators are executed sequentially in the alphanumerical order of
the final component of their name. The output of each generator
output is immediately parsed and used to update the environment for
generators that run after that. Thus, later generators can use
and/or modify the output of earlier generators.
• Generators are run by every manager instance, their output can be
different for each user.
It is recommended to use numerical prefixes for generator names to
simplify ordering.
EXAMPLES
Example 1. A simple generator that extends an environment variable if a
directory exists in the file system
# 50-xdg-data-dirs.sh
#!/bin/sh
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT-0
# set the default value
XDG_DATA_DIRS="${XDG_DATA_DIRS:-/usr/local/share/:/usr/share}"
# add a directory if it exists
if [ -d /opt/foo/share ]; then
XDG_DATA_DIRS="/opt/foo/share:${XDG_DATA_DIRS}"
fi
# write our output
echo "XDG_DATA_DIRS=${XDG_DATA_DIRS}"
Example 2. A more complicated generator which reads existing
configuration and mutates one variable
# 90-rearrange-path.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT-0
"""
Proof-of-concept systemd environment generator that makes sure that bin dirs
are always after matching sbin dirs in the path.
(Changes /sbin:/bin:/foo/bar to /bin:/sbin:/foo/bar.)
This generator shows how to override the configuration possibly created by
earlier generators. It would be easier to write in bash, but let's have it
in Python just to prove that we can, and to serve as a template for more
interesting generators.
"""
import os
import pathlib
def rearrange_bin_sbin(path):
"""Make sure any pair of .../bin, .../sbin directories is in this order
>>> rearrange_bin_sbin('/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin')
'/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin'
"""
items = [pathlib.Path(p) for p in path.split(':')]
for i in range(len(items)):
if 'sbin' in items[i].parts:
ind = items[i].parts.index('sbin')
bin = pathlib.Path(*items[i].parts[:ind], 'bin', *items[i].parts[ind+1:])
if bin in items[i+1:]:
j = i + 1 + items[i+1:].index(bin)
items[i], items[j] = items[j], items[i]
return ':'.join(p.as_posix() for p in items)
if __name__ == '__main__':
path = os.environ['PATH'] # This should be always set.
# If it is not, we will just crash, which is OK too.
new = rearrange_bin_sbin(path)
if new != path:
print('PATH={}'.format(new))
Example 3. Debugging a generator
SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL=debug VAR_A=something VAR_B="something else" \
/usr/lib/systemd/system-environment-generators/path-to-generator
SEE ALSO
systemd-environment-d-generator(8), systemd.generator(7), systemd(1),
systemctl(1)
NOTES
1. 💣💥🧨💥💥💣 Please note that those configuration files must be available
at all times. If /usr/local/ is a separate partition, it may not be
available during early boot, and must not be used for configuration.
systemd 257.9 SYSTEMD....GENERATOR(7)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 05:01:02 CET 2025.