Exits when run by systemd

[michalrus]

Because the xmodmap and xcape settings are not kept after suspend and resume, I’ve created a systemd service:

[Unit]
Description=space2ctrl
After=suspend.target

[Service]
User=m
Type=simple
ExecStart=/home/m/space2ctrl

[Install]
WantedBy=suspend.target

This /home/m/space2ctrl is a copy of the script from the README.md with sleep 5 added (even xmodmap wouldn’t work otherwise):

#!/bin/sh
sleep 5
export DISPLAY=":0"

# Kill instances of xcape that might be running.
killall -u m xcape

# Map an unused modifier’s keysym to the spacebar’s keycode and make it a
# control modifier. It needs to be an existing key so that emacs won't
# spazz out when you press it. Hyper_L is a good candidate.
spare_modifier="Hyper_L"
xmodmap -e "keycode 65 = $spare_modifier"
xmodmap -e "remove mod4 = $spare_modifier" # hyper_l is mod4 by default
xmodmap -e "add Control = $spare_modifier"

# Map space to an unused keycode (to keep it around for xcape to
# use).
xmodmap -e "keycode any = space"

# Finally use xcape to cause the space bar to generate a space when tapped.
xcape -e "${spare_modifier}=space"

With this service, after resuming, the xmodmap mods work (Space is Ctrl), but xcape exits immediately and no space can be typed.

When the above script, /home/m/space2ctrl, is run manually in a terminal, everything works as expected.

What could be the case?

[etam]

When using Type=simple, systemd expects the process to remain running in the foreground. So either change the last line of the script to "exec xcape -d ...", or try using Type=forking.

[blueyed]

FWIW: settings are being kept for me across suspend/resume, so there might be another issue.

[michalrus]

I propose we close this. :smiley_cat:

This happened a long time ago and I cannot really replicate settings not being kept across suspend/resume, so…

Edit: on second thought, this was probably related to me using GNOME back then.