can I simply edit a linux *.service file and restart the service to configure it?

Question

I have an application that regularly sends sd_notify signals to the Service Manager that it is running.

I found the myapp.service file currently residing at: /usr/lib/systemd/system/myapp.service

It has the WatchdogSec line commented out currently:

Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/usr/share/java/mycom/myapp/
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java myapp.jar
SyslogIdentifier=myapp
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SuccessExitStatus=143
#WatchdogSec=600 
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

Can I simply remove the hashtag, restart the service and expect the Service Manager to restart the service within 10 minutes if it gets terminated?

Answer 1

Yes it will work, the sd_notify is sent to inform Systemd that it's still running.

The line WatchdogSec= indicates the max time (in seconds) acceptable without any new sd_notify from your program. After 600 seconds, it will consider him as failed, fire the on-failure and restart him.