Live updating with systemd services

If you just installed mako and are changing config file rapidly and manually running makoctl reload and some test notify-send command here is an example of how to automate that process.

Create ~/.config/mako/reload.sh script, that will also send you test notification:

#!/usr/bin/env sh

makoctl reload
# to test a 'high' urgency notification add '-u critical '
notify-send -a "Test notif app" -i firefox -t 5000 "Here is some summary" "needed to <s>create</s> that script cuz /usr/bin/makoctl reload wasn't working and was preventing the notification to appear with no logs"

Create watcher service and don’t forget to alter the path to the script in ExecStart param:

# ~/.config/systemd/user/mako-watcher.service

[Unit]
Description=mako notifications tester

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/path/to/.config/mako/reload.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical-session.target

Create a .path service, that you will also need to start. Watcher won’t work without it. Also edit PathModified param to match your full path to mako folder.

# ~/.config/systemd/user/mako-watcher.path

[Path]
PathModified=%h/.config/mako/config

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical-session.target

Enable those 2 user services:

systemctl --user enable --now mako-watcher.service
systemctl --user enable --now mako-watcher.path

Now whenever you edit any file in ~/.config/mako mako will reload its config and send you a test notification.