raspberrypi · JamesH65 · Sep 14, 2017 · Jun 29, 2017 · Jun 29, 2017 · Jul 11, 2017
diff --git a/linux/usage/README.md b/linux/usage/README.md
@@ -16,5 +16,7 @@ Some general help with Linux usage.
     - Setting up scheduled tasks
 - [.bashrc and .bash_aliases](bashrc.md)
     - Your shell configuration and aliases
+- [systemd](systemd.md)
+    - Configuration of systemd services to start scripts at booting
 - [rc.local](rc-local.md)
     - Configuration of initialisation
diff --git a/linux/usage/systemd.md b/linux/usage/systemd.md
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# systemd
+
+In order to have a command or program run when the Pi boots, you can add it as a service. Once this is done, you can start/stop enable/disable from the linux prompt.
+
+## Creating a service
+
+On your Pi, create a .service file for your service, for example:
+
+myscript.service
+
+```[Unit]
+Description=My service
+After=network.target
+
+[Service]
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 -u main.py
+WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/myscript
+StandardOutput=inherit
+StandardError=inherit
+Restart=always
+User=pi
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
+```
+So in this instance, the service would run Python 3 from our working directory `/home/pi/myscript` which contains our python program to run `myscript.py`. But you are not limited to Python programs: simply change the ExecStart line to be the command to start any program/script that you want running from booting.
+
+Copy this file into `/lib/systemd/system` as root, for example:
+```
+sudo cp myscript.service /lib/systemd/system/myscript.service
+```
+
+Once this has been copied, you can attempt to start the service using the following command:
+```
+sudo systemctl start myscript.service
+```
+
+Stop it using following command:
+```
+sudo systemctl stop myscript.service
+```
+When you are happy that this starts and stops your app, you can have it start automatically on reboot by using this command:
+```
+sudo systemctl enable myscript.service
+```
+
+The `systemctl` command can also be used to restart the service or disable it from boot up!
+
+Some things to be aware of:
++ The order in which things are started is based on their dependencies — this particular script should start fairly late in the boot process, after a network is available (see the After section).
++ You can configure different dependencies and orders based on your requirements.
+
+
+You can get more information from:
+``` man systemctl```
+or here: https://fedoramagazine.org/what-is-an-init-system/
+
+Also be sure to reference absolute file names rather than doing so relative to your home folder, for example use `/home/pi/myscript.py` rather than `myscript.py`.