On 19/07/20 9:46 pm, Darac Marjal wrote: > > On 19/07/2020 10:10, Richard Hector wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> I'm running into a problem with systemd and my openvpn instances. >> >> To start a vpn, I run 'systemctl start openvpn-client@foo_host2' or >> similar. That has to be an underscore, because as far as I can see, >> using a hyphen/dash will break the instance mechanism. Of course, the >> actual hostname has to have a hyphen, because you can't have an >> underscore in the DNS. >> >> This means I will inevitably end up typing 'systemctl start >> openvpn-client@foo-host2' by mistake. >> >> When that happens, it appears that systemd will try to start it, and >> fail because foo-host2.conf doesn't exist - and try for ever. Showing >> the status of foo_host2 works fine, of course, so I don't notice until I >> look at the logs. >> >> Is this an inherent part of how systemd works, or is there a way to make >> it return an error message, rather than silently trying the impossible? >> >> Thanks, >> Richard >> > Systemd acknowledges that the string you might want to put in an > instance name isn't always a good string to put in a filename, so it > uses an escaping mechanism detailed at > https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.unit.html#String > Escaping for Inclusion in Unit Names
I think I've read that before, yes. But I think instance names might follow slightly different rules from unit names? I don't remember the details; I just remember having problems when I tried to use a hyphen in the instance name (config file name). > Additionally, if you find yourself typing a dash instead of an > underscore, consider training yourself to take advantage of your shell's > completion functions. "systemctl start openvpn-client@foo<tab>" (where > "<tab>" represents pressing the tab key) should complete the string for > you. If there are multiple completions possible, a single tab will not > add any more characters to the command but two tabs in quick succession > will display further possibilities. Generally, you can navigate these > with cursor keys for a rudimentary menu. I do use tab completion extensively (for simple stuff, anyway), but it hasn't been reliable for me for systemd units - perhaps I need to add something for that. When I tried it just now, it wouldn't tab complete anything before the @ sign, and after that, it completed to hostnames - which are the strings I'm trying to avoid :-) Cheers, Richard
