headscale.service location

[zoenglinghou]

Bug description
headscale.service should not be installed to /etc/systemd/system

To Reproduce

dpkg -L headscale.deb

Context info
It is my understanding that systemd unit files from a package should be installed to /usr/lib/systemd/system, and would be symlinked to /etc/systemd/system upon systemctl enable. Sometimes the postinst and prerm would handle the service enabling and stopping too.

[jonathanspw]

You are correct on this.

[loprima-l]

I guess it depends on the linux version and OS, I'm not so familiar with Linux, did you know how is it on other OSes?

[zoenglinghou]

I guess it depends on the linux version and OS, I'm not so familiar with Linux, did you know how is it on other OSes?

I know this is the packaging convention on Debian-, RedHat-, and Arch-Families. macOS would use a different init system

[jonathanspw]

It's standard across systemd-based systems. /usr/lib/systemd is for units from packages. /etc/systemd/system is for custom stuff/non-packaged stuff.

In addition to /etc/systemd/system, the drop-in ".d/" directories for system services can be placed in /usr/lib/systemd/system or /run/systemd/system directories. Drop-in files in /etc/ take precedence over those in /run/ which in turn take precedence over those in /usr/lib/. Drop-in files under any of these directories take precedence over unit files wherever located. Multiple drop-in files with different names are applied in lexicographic order, regardless of which of the directories they reside in.

src: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.unit.html

tldr: it's all about precedence. Use /usr/lib/systemd to allow users to override things if they desire in a clean way.

[loprima-l]

@jonathanspw I think you're already working on the RPM package build, as I'm not familiar with Linux, can you make a pull request for this or at least make the changes on the .rpm ?

[jonathanspw]

It's already correct in the RPMs. PRd to fix the .debs.

[loprima-l]

Oh, I supposed that the error was everywhere, nice job ^^

[loprima-l]

@zoenglinghou You can close your Issue, @jonathanspw Got ya !

[jonathanspw]

When the PR is merged it will close it automatically :)

[zoenglinghou]

Thanks @jonathanspw