submitted 3 days ago by MoLoPoLY@discuss.tchncs.de to c/linuxquestions@lemmy.zip

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I am trying to create some systemd units that are supposed to start scripts at certain intervals. With Cron, I used an expression like 0 3 */7 * * to start a job every 7 days at 3 a.m. That worked great. With OnCalendar, I have no idea how to implement "every 7 days". Or can I use OnUnitActiveSec here? Additional problem: The computer is not always on at the specified time. The job should therefore be repeated as soon as the computer is available again. I have set Persistent=true for this purpose. However, I suspect that OnUnitActiveSec is reset every time I restart the computer. Or does OnUnitActiveSec refer to the time when the unit was activated with systemctl enabled test.timer?

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[-] oranki@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 days ago

Would something like

OnCalendar=Wed *-*-* 03:00:00

Technically not the same as every 7 days, instead it's every Wednesday.

[-] MoLoPoLY@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 days ago

OK. I think 7 day was a slightly misleading schedule :-) My bad. But yes, you are right, for 7 days, this will work fine. But i think OnUnitActiveSec=7d is more flexible, when i change this to 12 days, 9 days and so on... I should learn to be more precise in my questions. Sorry.

this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026

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