% podman-generate-systemd(1)

## NAME
podman\-generate\-systemd - Generate systemd unit file(s) for a container. Not supported for the remote client

## SYNOPSIS
**podman generate systemd** [*options*] *container|pod*

## DESCRIPTION
**podman generate systemd** will create a systemd unit file that can be used to control a container or pod.
By default, the command will print the content of the unit files to stdout.

Note that this command is not supported for the remote client.

## OPTIONS:

**--files**, **-f**

Generate files instead of printing to stdout.  The generated files are named {container,pod}-{ID,name}.service and will be placed in the current working directory.

**--name**, **-n**

Use the name of the container for the start, stop, and description in the unit file

**--new**

Create a new container via podman-run instead of starting an existing one.  This option relies on container configuration files, which may not map directly to podman CLI flags; please review the generated output carefully before placing in production.
Since we use systemd `Type=forking` service, using this option will force the container run with the detached param `-d`

**--timeout**, **-t**=*value*

Override the default stop timeout for the container with the given value.

**--restart-policy**=*policy*

Set the systemd restart policy.  The restart-policy must be one of: "no", "on-success", "on-failure", "on-abnormal",
"on-watchdog", "on-abort", or "always".  The default policy is *on-failure*.

## Examples

Create and print a systemd unit file for a container running nginx with an *always* restart policy and 1-second timeout to stdout.
```
$ podman create --name nginx nginx:latest
$ podman generate systemd --restart-policy=always -t 1 nginx
# container-de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6.service
# autogenerated by Podman 1.5.2
# Wed Aug 21 09:46:45 CEST 2019

[Unit]
Description=Podman container-de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6.service
Documentation=man:podman-generate-systemd(1)

[Service]
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 1 de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6
KillMode=none
Type=forking
PIDFile=/run/user/1000/overlay-containers/de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6/userdata/conmon.pid

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

Create systemd unit files for a pod with two simple alpine containers. Note that these container services cannot be started or stopped individually via `systemctl`; they are managed by the pod service. You can still use `systemctl status` or journalctl to examine them.
```
$ podman pod create --name systemd-pod
$ podman create --pod systemd-pod alpine top
$ podman create --pod systemd-pod alpine top
$ podman generate systemd --files --name systemd-pod
/home/user/pod-systemd-pod.service
/home/user/container-amazing_chandrasekhar.service
/home/user/container-jolly_shtern.service
$ cat pod-systemd-pod.service
# pod-systemd-pod.service
# autogenerated by Podman 1.5.2
# Wed Aug 21 09:52:37 CEST 2019

[Unit]
Description=Podman pod-systemd-pod.service
Documentation=man:podman-generate-systemd(1)
Requires=container-amazing_chandrasekhar.service container-jolly_shtern.service
Before=container-amazing_chandrasekhar.service container-jolly_shtern.service

[Service]
Restart=on-failure
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start 77a818221650-infra
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 77a818221650-infra
KillMode=none
Type=forking
PIDFile=/run/user/1000/overlay-containers/ccfd5c71a088768774ca7bd05888d55cc287698dde06f475c8b02f696a25adcd/userdata/conmon.pid

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

## SEE ALSO
podman(1), podman-container(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5)

## HISTORY
August 2019, Updated with pod support by Valentin Rothberg (rothberg at redhat dot com)
April 2019, Originally compiled by Brent Baude (bbaude at redhat dot com)