<varlistentry>
<term><option>--test</option></term>
- <listitem><para>Determine startup sequence, dump it and exit.
- This is an option useful for debugging only.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Determine the initial start-up transaction (i.e. the list of jobs enqueued at
+ start-up), dump it and exit. This option is useful for debugging only. Note that during regular
+ service manager start-up further units might be started than this operation shows, because hardware,
+ socket, bus or other kinds of activation might add additional jobs. Use <option>--system</option> to
+ request the initial transaction of the system service manager (this is also the implied default),
+ combine with <option>--user</option> to request the initial transaction of the per-user service
+ manager instead.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--dump-configuration-items</option></term>
not specified, defaults to
<filename>default.target</filename>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--system</option></term>
<term><option>--user</option></term>
- <listitem><para>For <option>--system</option>, tell systemd to
- run a system instance, even if the process ID is not 1, i.e.
- systemd is not run as init process. <option>--user</option>
- does the opposite, running a user instance even if the process
- ID is 1. Normally, it should not be necessary to pass these
- options, as systemd automatically detects the mode it is
- started in. These options are hence of little use except for
- debugging. Note that it is not supported booting and
- maintaining a full system with systemd running in
- <option>--system</option> mode, but PID not 1. In practice,
- passing <option>--system</option> explicitly is only useful in
- conjunction with <option>--test</option>.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>When used in conjunction with <option>--test</option>, selects whether to calculate
+ the initial transaction for the system instance or for a per-user instance. These options have no
+ effect when invoked without <option>--test</option>, as during regular
+ (i.e. non-<option>--test</option>) invocations the service manager will automatically detect whether
+ it shall operate in system or per-user mode, by checking whether the PID it is run as is 1 or
+ not. Note that it is not supported booting and maintaining a system with the service manager running
+ in <option>--system</option> mode but with a PID other than 1.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--dump-core</option></term>