--Manage-users and systemd

[dom134]

Hello there, I am really enjoying using Calibre 3.0: keep up the great work!

I am trying to run calibre-server through systemd (Ubuntu 16.04 and Apache2). I have created a couple of users using:

calibre-server --manage-users

I can manually start calibre-server by using:

calibre-server --url-prefix /calibre --port=8080 --enable-auth /path_to_library

However I do need to ensure that /path_to_library is owned by me and not root nor www-data. Calibre will then function with no issues.

If I try to run it through systemd, however, it continually asks for login details and I cannot get through to the library.

This is my file:

#/lib/systemd/system/calibre.service

[Unit]
Description=Calibre Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
PIDFile=/var/run/calibre-server.pid

ExecStart=/usr/bin/calibre-server \
--max-opds-items=30 \
--max-opds-ungrouped-items=100 \
--url-prefix /calibre \
--port=8080 \
--pidfile=/var/run/calibre-server.pid \
--enable-auth \
--log=calibre.log
/path_to_library

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

If I run it as --disable-auth it works fine, but without password protection!

Is there anything I am doing wrong?

[dom134]

I updated to 3.1 and I still have issues - I hadn't turned disable-auth off

[eschwartz]

Well, the systemd service is started as root, but calibre defaults to looking at the user database in "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/calibre/server-users.sqlite". So you have edited it in /home/dom134/ (or whatever your username is) and then the systemd instance tried accessing it in /root/

You can pass the --userdb /path/to/server-users.sqlite if you like, but I suggest running calibre-server under your systemd user instance.

There is also no need for a pidfile, and if you don't specify a library calibre will fallback on serving all the libraries known to the GUI configuration.

[eschwartz@arch ~]$ cat ~/.config/systemd/user/calibre-server.service
[Unit]
Description=Main calibre server
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/calibre-server \
    --port=8080 \
    --enable-auth \
    --access-log=/%h/.local/share/calibre.log

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

[dom134]

Thanks eschwarz, it works a treat!

In the end I passed the path to the user database, and it all works now.
This is my file:

[Unit]
Description=Calibre Service
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/calibre-server \
--url-prefix /calibre \
--port=8080 \
--enable-auth \
--access-log=/any_path/.local/share/calibre.log \
--userdb=/home/me/.config/calibre/server-users.sqlite \
/Calibre

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

[eschwartz]

Well, keep in mind that the content server is capable of writing to both the library (via calibredb) and the userdb (there is a new option to edit your password directly from the browser). So you might not want to run it as root, if only because you can end up with root-owned files without meaning to.

[dom134]

Hello eschwartz,

How do you start a systemd unit without sudo?

I have placed the file in ~/.config/systemd/user, but when I start calibre.service all I get is:

Failed to restart calibre.service: Unit calibre.service not found.

[eschwartz]

systemctl --user

will allow you to control systemd user instances. For more information, see the excellent Arch Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Systemd/User