Trilium not starting with services

[TheGuardianLight]

Description

I've tried to install the Trilium server following these instructions: https://triliumnext.github.io/Docs/Wiki/packaged-server-installation.html but at the service installation stage, when I try to start it, it fails every time.

Here are the contents of the trilium.service file:

[Unit]
Description=Trilium Daemon
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
User=trilium
Group=trilium
Type=simple
ExecStart=/opt/trilium/trilium.sh
WorkingDirectory=/opt/trilium/

TimeoutStopSec=20
# KillMode=process leads to error, according to https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.kill.html
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Note: the trilium user and group does exist.

TriliumNext Version

0.91.6

What operating system are you using?

Ubuntu

What is your setup?

Local + server sync

Operating System Version

Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS

Error logs

With systemctl status trilium :

root@srv-notes:/opt# systemctl status trilium
× trilium.service - Trilium Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/trilium.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2025-02-11 19:00:32 UTC; 423ms ago
   Duration: 282ms
    Process: 2386 ExecStart=/opt/trilium/trilium.sh (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Main PID: 2386 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 335ms

Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: Failed to start trilium.service - Trilium Daemon.

With journalctl -xeu trilium :

Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
░░ Subject: Automatic restarting of a unit has been scheduled
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
░░ 
░░ Automatic restarting of the unit trilium.service has been scheduled, as the result for
░░ the configured Restart= setting for the unit.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
░░ 
░░ The unit trilium.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: Failed to start trilium.service - Trilium Daemon.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit trilium.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit trilium.service has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 4550 and the job result is failed.

[eliandoran]

@TheGuardianLight , could you do:

journalctl -b -u trilium

and paste the full log, please?

[TheGuardianLight]

Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 4.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: Started trilium.service - Trilium Daemon.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]: (node:2387) ExperimentalWarning: Importing JSON modules is an experimental feature and might change at any time
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]: (Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]: node:fs:1372
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:   const result = binding.mkdir(
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:                          ^
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, mkdir '/home/trilium/trilium-data'
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:     at Object.mkdirSync (node:fs:1372:26)
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:     at createDirIfNotExisting (file:///opt/trilium/src/services/data_dir.js:63:12)
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:     at getTriliumDataDir (file:///opt/trilium/src/services/data_dir.js:33:5)
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:     at file:///opt/trilium/src/services/data_dir.js:66:26
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:     at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:222:25)
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:     at async ModuleLoader.import (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:316:24)
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:     at async asyncRunEntryPointWithESMLoader (node:internal/modules/run_main:123:5) {
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:   errno: -2,
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:   code: 'ENOENT',
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:   syscall: 'mkdir',
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]:   path: '/home/trilium/trilium-data'
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]: }
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes trilium.sh[2387]: Node.js v20.15.1
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: trilium.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Feb 11 19:00:32 srv-notes systemd[1]: Failed to start trilium.service - Trilium Daemon.

[eliandoran]

@TheGuardianLight , it appears that it's trying to create the data dir but fails.

Could you try:

mkdir -p /home/trilium/trilium-data
chown -r trilium:trilium /home/trilium

[pano9000]

@TheGuardianLight , it appears that it's trying to create the data dir but fails.

Could you try:

mkdir -p /home/trilium/trilium-data
chown -r trilium:trilium /home/trilium

second command has a tiny typo – it should be with a capital -R, like so

chown -R trilium:trilium /home/trilium

[TheGuardianLight]

Thanks it's good !