Help Meh. How to use systemd ubuntu server?

[TARD]

I've never used systemd and having hard time finding good tutorials. I need to know how to create a minetest service/unit, start on boot and restart on crash on ubuntu server 16.04. thank.

[CuriousNoob]

I've never used systemd and having hard time finding good tutorials. I need to know how to create a minetest service/unit, start on boot and restart on crash on ubuntu server 16.04. thank.

Hello TARD

I'm running Mint-18-KDE which is based on Ubuntu-16.04-LTS.

There is a distinct package ''minetest-server'' which is installable via command-line apt or via the GUI Software Manager.

As you might guess, it sets up the files to be able to run a basic Minetest Server.

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

#  :   apt content minetest-server

/.
/etc
/etc/init.d
/etc/init.d/minetest-server
/etc/logrotate.d
/etc/logrotate.d/minetest-server
/etc/minetest
/etc/minetest/minetest.conf
/lib
/lib/systemd
/lib/systemd/system
/lib/systemd/system/minetest-server.service
/lib/systemd/system/minetest-server@.service
/usr
/usr/games
/usr/games/minetestserver
/usr/lib
/usr/lib/minetest
/usr/lib/minetest/minetestserver
/usr/share
/usr/share/doc
/usr/share/doc/minetest-server
/usr/share/doc/minetest-server/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/minetest-server/copyright
/usr/share/doc/minetest-server/README.Debian
/usr/share/man
/usr/share/man/man6

I believe it sets it up automatically on install, but, if not, I believe the systemd stuff is easily triggered using (as root or sudo) the command-line utility ''systemctl'' which is actually quite simple and logical to use for this.

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

#  :   systemctl enable minetest-server

#  :   systemctl start minetest-server

The ''systemctl enable'' step adds a symlink in /etc :

/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/minetest-server.service -> /lib/systemd/system/minetest-server.service

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

#  :   cat /lib/systemd/system/minetest-server.service

[Unit]
Description=Minetest multiplayer server minetest.conf server config
Documentation=man:minetestserver(6)
After=network.target

[Service]
Restart=on-failure
User=Debian-minetest
Group=games
ExecStart=/usr/lib/minetest/minetestserver --config /etc/minetest/minetest.conf --logfile /var/log/minetest/minetest.log

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

If it's any consolation, I think Ubuntu-16's ''systemctl'' is orders-of-magnitude better than 14's ''upstart'' --- I went from Fedora-19 to Mint-17 (based on Ubuntu-14).

I've tried to explain to people IRL that going from one Linux distro to another can sometimes be thought of like moving from, say, Brazil to Spain --- core similarities in language and similarities in culture, but enough significant differences that you struggle and fall-foul to all sorts of Gotchas!

Anyway, attention to task...

Obviously you'll need to check the configuration --- the listened-on port-number and stuff like that, plus all the issues of firewalls and whatever else is network-relevant --- the defaults may or may not suit your use-case.

But remember, I'm no systemd/systemctl expert --- merely another long-suffering Linux-user who's stumbled a little further down the path on this one --- so please don't experiment if you're not willing to risk breaking your system.

Hopefully others more expert will chip-in to confirm and clarify.

Hope that helps.

.

[TARD]

I did apt-get minetest-server, Repo outdated 4.13, but it worked and started on boot. So I changed the directory to my 4.15 dev build, that worked, the .minetest.conf file worked but it's not detecting everything below my /world folder. player files, the map or anything. I've tried moving these folders around with no luck. I'll update this post if I figure it out. I was very tired when doing this stuff so maybe that's what went wrong.
ExecStart=/minetest/bin/./minetestserver --config /etc/minetest/minetest.conf --logfile /var/log/minetest/minetest.log

[CuriousNoob]

I did apt-get minetest-server, Repo outdated 4.13, but it worked and started on boot. So I changed the directory to my 4.15 dev build, that worked, the .minetest.conf file worked but it's not detecting everything below my /world folder. player files, the map or anything. I've tried moving these folders around with no luck. I'll update this post if I figure it out. I was very tired when doing this stuff so maybe that's what went wrong.
ExecStart=/minetest/bin/./minetestserver --config /etc/minetest/minetest.conf --logfile /var/log/minetest/minetest.log

Eeeyyukkk! Oops, yes, you're right, the old version 0.4.13, checked mine and it's the same --- and that's even with me using the minetestdevs ppa repository.

Quick StartPage search has not immediately thrown back hits with a ppa for any current ''minestestserver'' dev version.

Hmm... thinks...

I know it can be built from source easily enough (after you've got all the dependencies) --- there's guides aplenty round these forums and on GitHub. I haven't tried, so I'm not sure whether the usual Linux final step of ''make install'' actually does a system-wide install of minetest and minetestserver. I'll have to test it sometime unless an expert can confirm for us.

But I know that the ''minetest'' binary can also be started with the ''--server'' flag. I think it's probably equivalent.

So, the other way might be simply to ''systemctl stop'' the server, then ''systemctl disable'' it, then duplicate the minetest-server.service file into /etc/systemd/system/ and then modify the ''ExecStart='' line in the duplicate to use the regular version 0.4.15 minetest binary, then once again enable and start the service.

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

#  :  systemctl stop      minetest-server.service
#  :  systemctl disable   minetest-server.service
#  :  cp -av  /lib/systemd/system/minetest-server.service  /etc/systemd/system/minetest-server.service
#  :  nano    /etc/systemd/system/minetest-server.service


Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

ExecStart=/usr/bin/minetest   --server   < blah blah other flags and options >


Just an idea..?

HTH

- - -

It's probably also worth saying that using suitable flags you can specify a different world and .conf file per server.

So you could also, I believe, even have multiple .service files with different names in /etc/systemd/system/, each auto-starting a different server with a different world and different .conf each listening on a different port, remembering to ''systemctl enable'' each new named server ... soon your own personal local Minetest server farm..? ;-P

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

/etc/systemd/system/mt-server-01-CreativeWorld.service

ExecStart=/usr/bin/minetest   --server  --world /path/to/CreativeWorld  --config /path/to/CreativeWorld.conf  --logfile /path/to/CreativeWorld.log


Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

/etc/systemd/system/mt-server-02-SurvivalWorld.service

ExecStart=/usr/bin/minetest   --server  --world /path/to/SurvivalWorld  --config /path/to/SurvivalWorld.conf  --logfile /path/to/SurvivalWorld.log


Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

/etc/systemd/system/mt-server-03-PvPWorld.service

ExecStart=/usr/bin/minetest   --server  --world /path/to/PvPWorld  --config /path/to/PvPWorld.conf  --logfile /path/to/PvPWorld.log


Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

/etc/systemd/system/mt-server-04-MonsterMobsWorld.service

ExecStart=/usr/bin/minetest   --server  --world /path/to/MonsterMobsWorld  --config /path/to/MonsterMobsWorld.conf  --logfile /path/to/MonsterMobsWorld.log


.

[TARD]

Thank, I probably do need to try with the flag to the map file.