omarchy-update-user-notify.path used PathExistsGlob= on the packaged
migrations directory. That directive is level-triggered: systemd re-checks
it every time the triggered unit deactivates and fires again while the glob
still matches. Since applied migrations stay on disk forever (state lives in
~/.local/state/omarchy/migrations), the glob always matches, so the oneshot
notifier re-triggered itself in a tight loop (~26-66 starts/sec) — burning
about a core and flooding the journal for the whole session.
The loop existed since the unit was introduced, but the default start-rate
limit killed it after 5 iterations, taking the .path unit down with
'unit-start-limit-hit'. That symptom was reported as #6174 and fixed
yesterday by setting StartLimitIntervalSec=0 — which removed the only brake
and turned the capped hiccup into an unbounded busy-loop.
Fix the actual cause instead:
* Drop PathExistsGlob= from the .path unit, keeping the edge-triggered
PathModified= watch for updates that land mid-session.
* Revert the StartLimitIntervalSec=0 override; with the level trigger gone
there is no self-re-fire to trip the limit, and the default limit is a
useful backstop again.
* Preserve the once-per-login pending check the glob used to provide by
giving the service its own WantedBy=graphical-session.target, enabled at
first-run alongside the other user units.
* Add a migration that daemon-reloads, revives a rate-limit-killed .path,
restarts the watcher, and enables the login-time notifier on existing
installs.
Verified with transient path/service units: the old config runs the service
200 times in 3 seconds; the new config runs it zero times while idle and
exactly once when a new migration file lands.
Thanks to @HANCORE-Linux for finding and diagnosing the problem.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
omarchy-update-user-notify.path watches /usr/share/omarchy/migrations
with PathModified. A single update commonly drops several migration
files at once, so the oneshot service is re-triggered in a burst and
exceeds the default start-rate limit (StartLimitBurst=5 / 10s):
omarchy-update-user-notify.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
omarchy-update-user-notify.path: Failed with result 'unit-start-limit-hit'.
When the limit trips, the watching .path unit itself fails and stops
watching, so migrations that land later in the session are never
surfaced until the next login.
Set StartLimitIntervalSec=0 on the service. omarchy-migrate-notify is
idempotent, so there is no downside to letting it run on every trigger.
Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
