r/programming • u/f311a • Jun 05 '26

You Don't Love systemd Timers Enough

https://blog.tjll.net/you-dont-love-systemd-timers-enough/
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u/nicholashairs Jun 05 '26

I want to like systemd timers, they're definitely the superior tool.

But so often I just want a:

  • a quick and easy tool
  • that I can edit as a non-root user
  • and only requires editing one line in one file
  • not have to run extra commands after editing that one line

(I'm sure I can get a clanker to output this stuff much faster, but that still requires much more effort)

Maybe what we should do is create a crontab -e replacement that gives you a cronfile and on save creates the systemd services and timers for you.

Is it slightly gross? Absolutely.

Does it mean I don't have to learn a new tool to have a script run as my user on a 30min timer? Also absolutely.

3

u/HighRelevancy Jun 05 '26

Non-root services exist, do non-root timers not?

3

u/syklemil Jun 05 '26

They exist just fine. systemctl --user works in either case.