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514094f9 1<?xml version='1.0'?>
3a54a157 2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
12b42c76 3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
0307f791 4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1+ -->
9e632bf7 5
dfdebb1b 6<refentry id="systemd"
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7 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
8
9 <refentryinfo>
10 <title>systemd</title>
11 <productname>systemd</productname>
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12 </refentryinfo>
13
14 <refmeta>
15 <refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle>
16 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
17 </refmeta>
18
19 <refnamediv>
20 <refname>systemd</refname>
21 <refname>init</refname>
22 <refpurpose>systemd system and service manager</refpurpose>
23 </refnamediv>
24
25 <refsynopsisdiv>
26 <cmdsynopsis>
b57b372a 27 <command>/usr/lib/systemd/systemd</command>
770c4777 28 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
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29 </cmdsynopsis>
30 <cmdsynopsis>
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31 <command>init</command>
32 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
33 <arg choice="req">COMMAND</arg>
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34 </cmdsynopsis>
35 </refsynopsisdiv>
36
37 <refsect1>
38 <title>Description</title>
39
40 <para>systemd is a system and service manager for Linux operating
41 systems. When run as first process on boot (as PID 1), it acts as
42 init system that brings up and maintains userspace
43 services.</para>
44
45 <para>For compatibility with SysV, if systemd is called as
46 <command>init</command> and a PID that is not 1, it will execute
47 <command>telinit</command> and pass all command line arguments
48 unmodified. That means <command>init</command> and
49 <command>telinit</command> are mostly equivalent when invoked from
50 normal login sessions. See
51 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>telinit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
52 for more information.</para>
53
54 <para>When run as a system instance, systemd interprets the
55 configuration file <filename>system.conf</filename> and the files
56 in <filename>system.conf.d</filename> directories; when run as a
57 user instance, systemd interprets the configuration file
58 <filename>user.conf</filename> and the files in
59 <filename>user.conf.d</filename> directories. See
60 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
61 for more information.</para>
62 </refsect1>
63
64 <refsect1>
65 <title>Options</title>
66
67 <para>The following options are understood:</para>
68
69 <variablelist>
70 <varlistentry>
71 <term><option>--test</option></term>
72
cd69e88b 73 <listitem><para>Determine the initial start-up transaction (i.e. the list of jobs enqueued at
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74 start-up), dump it and exit — without actually executing any of the determined jobs. This option is
75 useful for debugging only. Note that during regular service manager start-up additional units not
76 shown by this operation may be started, because hardware, socket, bus or other kinds of activation
77 might add additional jobs as the transaction is executed. Use <option>--system</option> to request
78 the initial transaction of the system service manager (this is also the implied default), combine
79 with <option>--user</option> to request the initial transaction of the per-user service manager
80 instead.</para></listitem>
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81 </varlistentry>
82 <varlistentry>
83 <term><option>--dump-configuration-items</option></term>
84
85 <listitem><para>Dump understood unit configuration items. This
86 outputs a terse but complete list of configuration items
87 understood in unit definition files.</para></listitem>
88 </varlistentry>
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89 <varlistentry>
90 <term><option>--dump-bus-properties</option></term>
91
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92 <listitem><para>Dump exposed bus properties. This outputs a terse but complete list of properties
93 exposed on D-Bus.</para></listitem>
bbc1acab 94 </varlistentry>
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95 <varlistentry>
96 <term><option>--unit=</option></term>
97
98 <listitem><para>Set default unit to activate on startup. If
99 not specified, defaults to
100 <filename>default.target</filename>.</para></listitem>
101 </varlistentry>
cd69e88b 102
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103 <varlistentry>
104 <term><option>--system</option></term>
105 <term><option>--user</option></term>
106
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107 <listitem><para>When used in conjunction with <option>--test</option>, selects whether to calculate
108 the initial transaction for the system instance or for a per-user instance. These options have no
109 effect when invoked without <option>--test</option>, as during regular
110 (i.e. non-<option>--test</option>) invocations the service manager will automatically detect whether
111 it shall operate in system or per-user mode, by checking whether the PID it is run as is 1 or
112 not. Note that it is not supported booting and maintaining a system with the service manager running
113 in <option>--system</option> mode but with a PID other than 1.</para></listitem>
798d3a52 114 </varlistentry>
cd69e88b 115
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116 <varlistentry>
117 <term><option>--dump-core</option></term>
118
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119 <listitem><para>Enable core dumping on crash. This switch has
120 no effect when running as user instance. This setting may also
121 be enabled during boot on the kernel command line via the
122 <varname>systemd.dump_core=</varname> option, see
123 below.</para></listitem>
798d3a52 124 </varlistentry>
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125
126 <varlistentry>
127 <term><option>--crash-vt=</option><replaceable>VT</replaceable></term>
128
129 <listitem><para>Switch to a specific virtual console (VT) on
b938cb90 130 crash. Takes a positive integer in the range 1–63, or a
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131 boolean argument. If an integer is passed, selects which VT to
132 switch to. If <constant>yes</constant>, the VT kernel messages
133 are written to is selected. If <constant>no</constant>, no VT
134 switch is attempted. This switch has no effect when running as
135 user instance. This setting may also be enabled during boot,
136 on the kernel command line via the
137 <varname>systemd.crash_vt=</varname> option, see
770c4777 138 <!-- FIXME: there is no crash_vt command line option? -->
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139 below.</para></listitem>
140 </varlistentry>
141
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142 <varlistentry>
143 <term><option>--crash-shell</option></term>
144
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145 <listitem><para>Run a shell on crash. This switch has no
146 effect when running as user instance. This setting may also be
147 enabled during boot, on the kernel command line via the
148 <varname>systemd.crash_shell=</varname> option, see
149 below.</para></listitem>
798d3a52 150 </varlistentry>
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151
152 <varlistentry>
153 <term><option>--crash-reboot</option></term>
154
155 <listitem><para>Automatically reboot the system on crash. This
156 switch has no effect when running as user instance. This
157 setting may also be enabled during boot, on the kernel command
158 line via the <varname>systemd.crash_reboot=</varname> option,
159 see below.</para></listitem>
160 </varlistentry>
161
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162 <varlistentry>
163 <term><option>--confirm-spawn</option></term>
164
165 <listitem><para>Ask for confirmation when spawning processes.
166 This switch has no effect when run as user
167 instance.</para></listitem>
168 </varlistentry>
169 <varlistentry>
170 <term><option>--show-status=</option></term>
171
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172 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or the special value <constant>auto</constant>. If on, terse unit
173 status information is shown on the console during boot-up and shutdown. If off, no such status information is
174 shown. If set to <constant>auto</constant> behavior is similar to off, except that it is automatically switched
175 to on, as soon as the first unit failure or significant boot delay is encountered. This switch has no effect
176 when invoked as user instance. If specified, overrides both the kernel command line setting
177 <varname>systemd.show_status=</varname> (see below) and the configuration file option
178 <option>ShowStatus=</option>, see
179 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
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180 </varlistentry>
181 <varlistentry>
182 <term><option>--log-target=</option></term>
183
184 <listitem><para>Set log target. Argument must be one of
185 <option>console</option>,
186 <option>journal</option>,
187 <option>kmsg</option>,
188 <option>journal-or-kmsg</option>,
189 <option>null</option>.</para></listitem>
190 </varlistentry>
191 <varlistentry>
192 <term><option>--log-level=</option></term>
193
194 <listitem><para>Set log level. As
195 argument this accepts a numerical log
196 level or the well-known <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>syslog</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
197 symbolic names (lowercase):
198 <option>emerg</option>,
199 <option>alert</option>,
200 <option>crit</option>,
201 <option>err</option>,
202 <option>warning</option>,
203 <option>notice</option>,
204 <option>info</option>,
205 <option>debug</option>.</para></listitem>
206 </varlistentry>
207 <varlistentry>
208 <term><option>--log-color=</option></term>
209
210 <listitem><para>Highlight important log messages. Argument is
211 a boolean value. If the argument is omitted, it defaults to
212 <option>true</option>.</para></listitem>
213 </varlistentry>
214 <varlistentry>
215 <term><option>--log-location=</option></term>
216
217 <listitem><para>Include code location in log messages. This is
218 mostly relevant for debugging purposes. Argument is a boolean
219 value. If the argument is omitted it defaults to
220 <option>true</option>.</para></listitem>
221 </varlistentry>
222 <varlistentry>
223 <term><option>--default-standard-output=</option></term>
224 <term><option>--default-standard-error=</option></term>
225
226 <listitem><para>Sets the default output or error output for
227 all services and sockets, respectively. That is, controls the
228 default for <option>StandardOutput=</option> and
229 <option>StandardError=</option> (see
230 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
231 for details). Takes one of
232 <option>inherit</option>,
233 <option>null</option>,
234 <option>tty</option>,
235 <option>journal</option>,
236 <option>journal+console</option>,
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237 <option>kmsg</option>,
238 <option>kmsg+console</option>. If the
239 argument is omitted
240 <option>--default-standard-output=</option> defaults to
241 <option>journal</option> and
242 <option>--default-standard-error=</option> to
243 <option>inherit</option>.</para></listitem>
244 </varlistentry>
245
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246 <varlistentry>
247 <term><option>--machine-id=</option></term>
248
249 <listitem><para>Override the machine-id set on the hard drive,
b8e1d4d1 250 useful for network booting or for containers. May not be set
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251 to all zeros.</para></listitem>
252 </varlistentry>
253
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254 <varlistentry>
255 <term><option>--service-watchdogs=</option></term>
256
257 <listitem><para>Globally enable/disable all service watchdog timeouts and emergency
258 actions. This setting may also be specified during boot, on the kernel
259 command line via the <varname>systemd.service_watchdogs=</varname>
260 option, see below. Defaults to enabled.</para></listitem>
261 </varlistentry>
262
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263 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
264 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
265 </variablelist>
266 </refsect1>
267
268 <refsect1>
269 <title>Concepts</title>
270
271 <para>systemd provides a dependency system between various
19f0cf65 272 entities called "units" of 11 different types. Units encapsulate
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273 various objects that are relevant for system boot-up and
274 maintenance. The majority of units are configured in unit
275 configuration files, whose syntax and basic set of options is
276 described in
277 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
278 however some are created automatically from other configuration,
279 dynamically from system state or programmatically at runtime.
1eecafb8 280 Units may be "active" (meaning started, bound, plugged in, …,
798d3a52 281 depending on the unit type, see below), or "inactive" (meaning
1eecafb8 282 stopped, unbound, unplugged, …), as well as in the process of
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283 being activated or deactivated, i.e. between the two states (these
284 states are called "activating", "deactivating"). A special
285 "failed" state is available as well, which is very similar to
286 "inactive" and is entered when the service failed in some way
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287 (process returned error code on exit, or crashed, an operation
288 timed out, or after too many restarts). If this state is entered,
289 the cause will be logged, for later reference. Note that the
290 various unit types may have a number of additional substates,
291 which are mapped to the five generalized unit states described
292 here.</para>
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293
294 <para>The following unit types are available:</para>
295
296 <orderedlist>
297 <listitem><para>Service units, which start and control daemons
b938cb90 298 and the processes they consist of. For details, see
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299 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
300
301 <listitem><para>Socket units, which encapsulate local IPC or
302 network sockets in the system, useful for socket-based
b938cb90 303 activation. For details about socket units, see
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304 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
305 for details on socket-based activation and other forms of
306 activation, see
307 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
308
309 <listitem><para>Target units are useful to group units, or
310 provide well-known synchronization points during boot-up, see
311 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.target</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
312
313 <listitem><para>Device units expose kernel devices in systemd
314 and may be used to implement device-based activation. For
b938cb90 315 details, see
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316 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.device</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
317
318 <listitem><para>Mount units control mount points in the file
319 system, for details see
320 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
321
322 <listitem><para>Automount units provide automount capabilities,
323 for on-demand mounting of file systems as well as parallelized
324 boot-up. See
325 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.automount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
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326
327 <listitem><para>Timer units are useful for triggering activation
328 of other units based on timers. You may find details in
329 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
330
331 <listitem><para>Swap units are very similar to mount units and
332 encapsulate memory swap partitions or files of the operating
333 system. They are described in
334 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.swap</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
335
336 <listitem><para>Path units may be used to activate other
337 services when file system objects change or are modified. See
338 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.path</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
339
340 <listitem><para>Slice units may be used to group units which
341 manage system processes (such as service and scope units) in a
342 hierarchical tree for resource management purposes. See
343 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.slice</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
344
345 <listitem><para>Scope units are similar to service units, but
346 manage foreign processes instead of starting them as well. See
347 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.scope</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
348
349 </orderedlist>
350
351 <para>Units are named as their configuration files. Some units
352 have special semantics. A detailed list is available in
353 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
354
355 <para>systemd knows various kinds of dependencies, including
356 positive and negative requirement dependencies (i.e.
357 <varname>Requires=</varname> and <varname>Conflicts=</varname>) as
358 well as ordering dependencies (<varname>After=</varname> and
359 <varname>Before=</varname>). NB: ordering and requirement
360 dependencies are orthogonal. If only a requirement dependency
361 exists between two units (e.g. <filename>foo.service</filename>
362 requires <filename>bar.service</filename>), but no ordering
363 dependency (e.g. <filename>foo.service</filename> after
364 <filename>bar.service</filename>) and both are requested to start,
365 they will be started in parallel. It is a common pattern that both
366 requirement and ordering dependencies are placed between two
367 units. Also note that the majority of dependencies are implicitly
368 created and maintained by systemd. In most cases, it should be
369 unnecessary to declare additional dependencies manually, however
370 it is possible to do this.</para>
371
372 <para>Application programs and units (via dependencies) may
373 request state changes of units. In systemd, these requests are
374 encapsulated as 'jobs' and maintained in a job queue. Jobs may
375 succeed or can fail, their execution is ordered based on the
376 ordering dependencies of the units they have been scheduled
377 for.</para>
378
379 <para>On boot systemd activates the target unit
380 <filename>default.target</filename> whose job is to activate
381 on-boot services and other on-boot units by pulling them in via
b938cb90 382 dependencies. Usually, the unit name is just an alias (symlink) for
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383 either <filename>graphical.target</filename> (for fully-featured
384 boots into the UI) or <filename>multi-user.target</filename> (for
385 limited console-only boots for use in embedded or server
386 environments, or similar; a subset of graphical.target). However,
387 it is at the discretion of the administrator to configure it as an
388 alias to any other target unit. See
389 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
390 for details about these target units.</para>
391
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392 <para>systemd only keeps a minimal set of units loaded into memory. Specifically, the only units that are kept
393 loaded into memory are those for which at least one of the following conditions is true:</para>
394
395 <orderedlist>
05d4db20 396 <listitem><para>It is in an active, activating, deactivating or failed state (i.e. in any unit state except for <literal>inactive</literal>)</para></listitem>
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397 <listitem><para>It has a job queued for it</para></listitem>
398 <listitem><para>It is a dependency of some sort of at least one other unit that is loaded into memory</para></listitem>
399 <listitem><para>It has some form of resource still allocated (e.g. a service unit that is inactive but for which
400 a process is still lingering that ignored the request to be terminated)</para></listitem>
401 <listitem><para>It has been pinned into memory programmatically by a D-Bus call</para></listitem>
402 </orderedlist>
403
404 <para>systemd will automatically and implicitly load units from disk — if they are not loaded yet — as soon as
405 operations are requested for them. Thus, in many respects, the fact whether a unit is loaded or not is invisible to
406 clients. Use <command>systemctl list-units --all</command> to comprehensively list all units currently loaded. Any
407 unit for which none of the conditions above applies is promptly unloaded. Note that when a unit is unloaded from
408 memory its accounting data is flushed out too. However, this data is generally not lost, as a journal log record
409 is generated declaring the consumed resources whenever a unit shuts down.</para>
410
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411 <para>Processes systemd spawns are placed in individual Linux
412 control groups named after the unit which they belong to in the
413 private systemd hierarchy. (see <ulink
3c887f97 414 url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v1/cgroups.txt">cgroups.txt</ulink>
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415 for more information about control groups, or short "cgroups").
416 systemd uses this to effectively keep track of processes. Control
417 group information is maintained in the kernel, and is accessible
418 via the file system hierarchy (beneath
419 <filename>/sys/fs/cgroup/systemd/</filename>), or in tools such as
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420 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>systemd-cgls</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
421 or
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422 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>ps</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
423 (<command>ps xawf -eo pid,user,cgroup,args</command> is
424 particularly useful to list all processes and the systemd units
425 they belong to.).</para>
426
427 <para>systemd is compatible with the SysV init system to a large
428 degree: SysV init scripts are supported and simply read as an
429 alternative (though limited) configuration file format. The SysV
430 <filename>/dev/initctl</filename> interface is provided, and
431 compatibility implementations of the various SysV client tools are
432 available. In addition to that, various established Unix
433 functionality such as <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> or the
434 <filename>utmp</filename> database are supported.</para>
435
436 <para>systemd has a minimal transaction system: if a unit is
437 requested to start up or shut down it will add it and all its
438 dependencies to a temporary transaction. Then, it will verify if
439 the transaction is consistent (i.e. whether the ordering of all
440 units is cycle-free). If it is not, systemd will try to fix it up,
441 and removes non-essential jobs from the transaction that might
442 remove the loop. Also, systemd tries to suppress non-essential
443 jobs in the transaction that would stop a running service. Finally
444 it is checked whether the jobs of the transaction contradict jobs
445 that have already been queued, and optionally the transaction is
446 aborted then. If all worked out and the transaction is consistent
447 and minimized in its impact it is merged with all already
448 outstanding jobs and added to the run queue. Effectively this
449 means that before executing a requested operation, systemd will
450 verify that it makes sense, fixing it if possible, and only
451 failing if it really cannot work.</para>
92e29d82 452
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453 <para>Note that transactions are generated independently of a unit's
454 state at runtime, hence, for example, if a start job is requested on an
455 already started unit, it will still generate a transaction and wake up any
456 inactive dependencies (and cause propagation of other jobs as per the
457 defined relationships). This is because the enqueued job is at the time of
458 execution compared to the target unit's state and is marked successful and
459 complete when both satisfy. However, this job also pulls in other
460 dependencies due to the defined relationships and thus leads to, in our
461 our example, start jobs for any of those inactive units getting queued as
462 well.</para>
798d3a52 463
f95b0be7 464 <para>systemd contains native implementations of various tasks
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465 that need to be executed as part of the boot process. For example,
466 it sets the hostname or configures the loopback network device. It
467 also sets up and mounts various API file systems, such as
468 <filename>/sys</filename> or <filename>/proc</filename>.</para>
469
470 <para>For more information about the concepts and
471 ideas behind systemd, please refer to the
472 <ulink url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">Original Design Document</ulink>.</para>
473
474 <para>Note that some but not all interfaces provided
475 by systemd are covered by the
28a0ad81 476 <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/InterfaceStabilityPromise">Interface
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477 Stability Promise</ulink>.</para>
478
479 <para>Units may be generated dynamically at boot and system
480 manager reload time, for example based on other configuration
b938cb90 481 files or parameters passed on the kernel command line. For details, see
b1c1a519 482 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.generator</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
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483
484 <para>Systems which invoke systemd in a container or initrd
485 environment should implement the
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486 <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ContainerInterface">Container Interface</ulink> or
487 <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/InitrdInterface">initrd Interface</ulink>
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488 specifications, respectively.</para>
489 </refsect1>
490
491 <refsect1>
492 <title>Directories</title>
493
494 <variablelist>
495 <varlistentry>
496 <term>System unit directories</term>
497
498 <listitem><para>The systemd system manager reads unit
499 configuration from various directories. Packages that want to
500 install unit files shall place them in the directory returned
501 by <command>pkg-config systemd
502 --variable=systemdsystemunitdir</command>. Other directories
503 checked are <filename>/usr/local/lib/systemd/system</filename>
12b42c76 504 and <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/system</filename>. User
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505 configuration always takes precedence. <command>pkg-config
506 systemd --variable=systemdsystemconfdir</command> returns the
507 path of the system configuration directory. Packages should
508 alter the content of these directories only with the
509 <command>enable</command> and <command>disable</command>
510 commands of the
511 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
512 tool. Full list of directories is provided in
513 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
514 </para></listitem>
515 </varlistentry>
516 </variablelist>
517
518 <variablelist>
519 <varlistentry>
520 <term>User unit directories</term>
521
522 <listitem><para>Similar rules apply for the user unit
523 directories. However, here the
524 <ulink url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html">XDG
525 Base Directory specification</ulink> is followed to find
526 units. Applications should place their unit files in the
527 directory returned by <command>pkg-config systemd
528 --variable=systemduserunitdir</command>. Global configuration
529 is done in the directory reported by <command>pkg-config
530 systemd --variable=systemduserconfdir</command>. The
531 <command>enable</command> and <command>disable</command>
532 commands of the
533 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
534 tool can handle both global (i.e. for all users) and private
535 (for one user) enabling/disabling of units. Full list of
536 directories is provided in
537 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
538 </para></listitem>
539 </varlistentry>
540 </variablelist>
541
542 <variablelist>
543 <varlistentry>
544 <term>SysV init scripts directory</term>
545
546 <listitem><para>The location of the SysV init script directory
547 varies between distributions. If systemd cannot find a native
548 unit file for a requested service, it will look for a SysV
549 init script of the same name (with the
550 <filename>.service</filename> suffix
551 removed).</para></listitem>
552 </varlistentry>
553 </variablelist>
554
555 <variablelist>
556 <varlistentry>
557 <term>SysV runlevel link farm directory</term>
558
559 <listitem><para>The location of the SysV runlevel link farm
560 directory varies between distributions. systemd will take the
561 link farm into account when figuring out whether a service
562 shall be enabled. Note that a service unit with a native unit
563 configuration file cannot be started by activating it in the
564 SysV runlevel link farm.</para></listitem>
565 </varlistentry>
566 </variablelist>
567 </refsect1>
568
569 <refsect1>
570 <title>Signals</title>
571
572 <variablelist>
573 <varlistentry>
574 <term><constant>SIGTERM</constant></term>
575
576 <listitem><para>Upon receiving this signal the systemd system
577 manager serializes its state, reexecutes itself and
578 deserializes the saved state again. This is mostly equivalent
579 to <command>systemctl daemon-reexec</command>.</para>
580
581 <para>systemd user managers will start the
582 <filename>exit.target</filename> unit when this signal is
583 received. This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl
d60cb656 584 --user start exit.target
27e64442 585 --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para></listitem>
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586 </varlistentry>
587
588 <varlistentry>
589 <term><constant>SIGINT</constant></term>
590
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591 <listitem><para>Upon receiving this signal the systemd system manager will start the
592 <filename>ctrl-alt-del.target</filename> unit. This is mostly equivalent to
27e64442 593 <command>systemctl start ctrl-alt-del.target --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>. If
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594 this signal is received more than 7 times per 2s, an immediate reboot is triggered. Note
595 that pressing
596 <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>Del</keycap></keycombo> on the
597 console will trigger this signal. Hence, if a reboot is hanging, pressing
598 <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>Del</keycap></keycombo> more than
599 7 times in 2 seconds is a relatively safe way to trigger an immediate reboot.</para>
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600
601 <para>systemd user managers treat this signal the same way as
602 <constant>SIGTERM</constant>.</para></listitem>
603 </varlistentry>
604
605 <varlistentry>
606 <term><constant>SIGWINCH</constant></term>
607
608 <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
609 system manager will start the
610 <filename>kbrequest.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
611 equivalent to <command>systemctl start
612 kbrequest.target</command>.</para>
613
614 <para>This signal is ignored by systemd user
615 managers.</para></listitem>
616 </varlistentry>
617
618 <varlistentry>
619 <term><constant>SIGPWR</constant></term>
620
621 <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
622 manager will start the <filename>sigpwr.target</filename>
623 unit. This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl start
624 sigpwr.target</command>.</para></listitem>
625 </varlistentry>
626
627 <varlistentry>
628 <term><constant>SIGUSR1</constant></term>
629
630 <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
631 manager will try to reconnect to the D-Bus
632 bus.</para></listitem>
633 </varlistentry>
634
635 <varlistentry>
636 <term><constant>SIGUSR2</constant></term>
637
638 <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
b938cb90 639 manager will log its complete state in human-readable form.
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640 The data logged is the same as printed by
641 <command>systemd-analyze dump</command>.</para></listitem>
642 </varlistentry>
643
644 <varlistentry>
645 <term><constant>SIGHUP</constant></term>
646
647 <listitem><para>Reloads the complete daemon configuration.
648 This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl
649 daemon-reload</command>.</para></listitem>
650 </varlistentry>
651
652 <varlistentry>
653 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+0</constant></term>
654
655 <listitem><para>Enters default mode, starts the
656 <filename>default.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
d60cb656 657 equivalent to <command>systemctl isolate
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658 default.target</command>.</para></listitem>
659 </varlistentry>
660
661 <varlistentry>
662 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+1</constant></term>
663
664 <listitem><para>Enters rescue mode, starts the
665 <filename>rescue.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
666 equivalent to <command>systemctl isolate
667 rescue.target</command>.</para></listitem>
668 </varlistentry>
669
670 <varlistentry>
671 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+2</constant></term>
672
673 <listitem><para>Enters emergency mode, starts the
674 <filename>emergency.service</filename> unit. This is mostly
675 equivalent to <command>systemctl isolate
676 emergency.service</command>.</para></listitem>
677 </varlistentry>
678
679 <varlistentry>
680 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+3</constant></term>
681
682 <listitem><para>Halts the machine, starts the
683 <filename>halt.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
d60cb656 684 equivalent to <command>systemctl start halt.target
27e64442 685 --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
d60cb656 686 </listitem>
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687 </varlistentry>
688
689 <varlistentry>
690 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+4</constant></term>
691
692 <listitem><para>Powers off the machine, starts the
693 <filename>poweroff.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
d60cb656 694 equivalent to <command>systemctl start poweroff.target
27e64442 695 --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
d60cb656 696 </listitem>
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697 </varlistentry>
698
699 <varlistentry>
700 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+5</constant></term>
701
702 <listitem><para>Reboots the machine, starts the
703 <filename>reboot.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
d60cb656 704 equivalent to <command>systemctl start reboot.target
27e64442 705 --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
d60cb656 706 </listitem>
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707 </varlistentry>
708
709 <varlistentry>
710 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+6</constant></term>
711
712 <listitem><para>Reboots the machine via kexec, starts the
713 <filename>kexec.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
d60cb656 714 equivalent to <command>systemctl start kexec.target
27e64442 715 --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
d60cb656 716 </listitem>
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717 </varlistentry>
718
719 <varlistentry>
720 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+13</constant></term>
721
722 <listitem><para>Immediately halts the machine.</para></listitem>
723 </varlistentry>
724
725 <varlistentry>
726 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+14</constant></term>
727
728 <listitem><para>Immediately powers off the machine.</para></listitem>
729 </varlistentry>
730
731 <varlistentry>
732 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+15</constant></term>
733
734 <listitem><para>Immediately reboots the machine.</para></listitem>
735 </varlistentry>
736
737 <varlistentry>
738 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+16</constant></term>
739
740 <listitem><para>Immediately reboots the machine with kexec.</para></listitem>
741 </varlistentry>
742
743 <varlistentry>
744 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+20</constant></term>
745
746 <listitem><para>Enables display of status messages on the
747 console, as controlled via
748 <varname>systemd.show_status=1</varname> on the kernel command
749 line.</para></listitem>
750 </varlistentry>
751
752 <varlistentry>
753 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+21</constant></term>
754
755 <listitem><para>Disables display of
756 status messages on the console, as
757 controlled via
758 <varname>systemd.show_status=0</varname>
759 on the kernel command
760 line.</para></listitem>
761 </varlistentry>
762
763 <varlistentry>
764 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+22</constant></term>
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765
766 <listitem><para>Sets the service manager's log level to <literal>debug</literal>, in a fashion equivalent to
767 <varname>systemd.log_level=debug</varname> on the kernel command line.</para></listitem>
768 </varlistentry>
769
770 <varlistentry>
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771 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+23</constant></term>
772
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773 <listitem><para>Restores the log level to its configured value. The configured value is derived from – in order
774 of priority – the value specified with <varname>systemd.log-level=</varname> on the kernel command line, or the
775 value specified with <option>LogLevel=</option> in the configuration file, or the built-in default of
776 <literal>info</literal>.</para></listitem>
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777 </varlistentry>
778
779 <varlistentry>
780 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+24</constant></term>
781
782 <listitem><para>Immediately exits the manager (only available
783 for --user instances).</para></listitem>
784 </varlistentry>
785
786 <varlistentry>
787 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+26</constant></term>
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788
789 <listitem><para>Restores the log target to its configured value. The configured value is derived from – in
790 order of priority – the value specified with <varname>systemd.log-target=</varname> on the kernel command line,
791 or the value specified with <option>LogTarget=</option> in the configuration file, or the built-in
792 default.</para></listitem>
793 </varlistentry>
794
795 <varlistentry>
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796 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+27</constant></term>
797 <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant></term>
798
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799 <listitem><para>Sets the log target to <literal>console</literal> on <constant>SIGRTMIN+27</constant> (or
800 <literal>kmsg</literal> on <constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant>), in a fashion equivalent to
801 <varname>systemd.log_target=console</varname> (or <varname>systemd.log_target=kmsg</varname> on
802 <constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant>) on the kernel command line.</para></listitem>
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803 </varlistentry>
804 </variablelist>
805 </refsect1>
806
807 <refsect1>
808 <title>Environment</title>
809
810 <variablelist class='environment-variables'>
811 <varlistentry>
812 <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL</varname></term>
813 <listitem><para>systemd reads the log level from this
814 environment variable. This can be overridden with
815 <option>--log-level=</option>.</para></listitem>
816 </varlistentry>
817
818 <varlistentry>
819 <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET</varname></term>
820 <listitem><para>systemd reads the log target from this
821 environment variable. This can be overridden with
822 <option>--log-target=</option>.</para></listitem>
823 </varlistentry>
824
825 <varlistentry>
826 <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR</varname></term>
827 <listitem><para>Controls whether systemd highlights important
828 log messages. This can be overridden with
829 <option>--log-color=</option>.</para></listitem>
830 </varlistentry>
831
832 <varlistentry>
833 <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION</varname></term>
834 <listitem><para>Controls whether systemd prints the code
835 location along with log messages. This can be overridden with
836 <option>--log-location=</option>.</para></listitem>
837 </varlistentry>
838
839 <varlistentry>
840 <term><varname>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME</varname></term>
841 <term><varname>$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS</varname></term>
842 <term><varname>$XDG_DATA_HOME</varname></term>
843 <term><varname>$XDG_DATA_DIRS</varname></term>
844
845 <listitem><para>The systemd user manager uses these variables
846 in accordance to the <ulink
847 url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html">XDG
848 Base Directory specification</ulink> to find its
849 configuration.</para></listitem>
850 </varlistentry>
851
852 <varlistentry>
853 <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_UNIT_PATH</varname></term>
854
855 <listitem><para>Controls where systemd looks for unit
856 files.</para></listitem>
857 </varlistentry>
858
859 <varlistentry>
860 <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_SYSVINIT_PATH</varname></term>
861
862 <listitem><para>Controls where systemd looks for SysV init
863 scripts.</para></listitem>
864 </varlistentry>
865
866 <varlistentry>
867 <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_SYSVRCND_PATH</varname></term>
868
869 <listitem><para>Controls where systemd looks for SysV init
870 script runlevel link farms.</para></listitem>
871 </varlistentry>
872
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873 <xi:include href="less-variables.xml" xpointer="colors" />
874 <xi:include href="less-variables.xml" xpointer="urlify" />
23b27b39 875
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876 <varlistentry>
877 <term><varname>$LISTEN_PID</varname></term>
878 <term><varname>$LISTEN_FDS</varname></term>
8dd4c05b 879 <term><varname>$LISTEN_FDNAMES</varname></term>
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880
881 <listitem><para>Set by systemd for supervised processes during
882 socket-based activation. See
883 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
acf553b0 884 for more information.</para></listitem>
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885 </varlistentry>
886
887 <varlistentry>
888 <term><varname>$NOTIFY_SOCKET</varname></term>
889
890 <listitem><para>Set by systemd for supervised processes for
891 status and start-up completion notification. See
892 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
acf553b0 893 for more information.</para></listitem>
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894 </varlistentry>
895 </variablelist>
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896
897 <para>For further environment variables understood by systemd and its various components, see <ulink
898 url="https://systemd.io/ENVIRONMENT">Known Environment Variables</ulink>.</para>
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899 </refsect1>
900
901 <refsect1>
902 <title>Kernel Command Line</title>
903
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904 <para>When run as the system instance systemd parses a number of options listed below. They can be
905 specified as kernel command line arguments<footnote><para>If run inside a Linux container these arguments
906 may be passed as command line arguments to systemd itself, next to any of the command line options listed
907 in the Options section above. If run outside of Linux containers, these arguments are parsed from
908 <filename>/proc/cmdline</filename> instead.</para></footnote>, or through the
909 <literal>SystemdOptions</literal> EFI variable (on EFI systems). The kernel command line has higher
910 priority. Following variables are understood:</para>
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911
912 <variablelist class='kernel-commandline-options'>
913 <varlistentry>
914 <term><varname>systemd.unit=</varname></term>
915 <term><varname>rd.systemd.unit=</varname></term>
916
917 <listitem><para>Overrides the unit to activate on boot.
918 Defaults to <filename>default.target</filename>. This may be
919 used to temporarily boot into a different boot unit, for
920 example <filename>rescue.target</filename> or
921 <filename>emergency.service</filename>. See
922 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
923 for details about these units. The option prefixed with
924 <literal>rd.</literal> is honored only in the initial RAM disk
925 (initrd), while the one that is not prefixed only in the main
926 system.</para></listitem>
927 </varlistentry>
928
929 <varlistentry>
770c4777 930 <term><varname>systemd.dump_core</varname></term>
798d3a52 931
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932 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
933 without an argument. If enabled, the systemd manager (PID 1) dumps core when
934 it crashes. Otherwise, no core dump is created. Defaults to enabled.</para>
935 </listitem>
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936 </varlistentry>
937
938 <varlistentry>
770c4777 939 <term><varname>systemd.crash_chvt</varname></term>
b9e74c39 940
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941 <listitem><para>Takes a positive integer, or a boolean argument. Can be also
942 specified without an argument, with the same effect as a positive boolean. If
943 a positive integer (in the range 1–63) is specified, the system manager (PID
944 1) will activate the specified virtual terminal (VT) when it
945 crashes. Defaults to disabled, meaning that no such switch is attempted. If
946 set to enabled, the VT the kernel messages are written to is selected.
947 </para></listitem>
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948 </varlistentry>
949
950 <varlistentry>
770c4777 951 <term><varname>systemd.crash_shell</varname></term>
798d3a52 952
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953 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
954 without an argument. If enabled, the system manager (PID 1) spawns a shell
955 when it crashes, after a 10s delay. Otherwise, no shell is spawned. Defaults
956 to disabled, for security reasons, as the shell is not protected by password
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957 authentication.</para></listitem>
958 </varlistentry>
959
960 <varlistentry>
770c4777 961 <term><varname>systemd.crash_reboot</varname></term>
798d3a52 962
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963 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
964 without an argument. If enabled, the system manager (PID 1) will reboot the
965 machine automatically when it crashes, after a 10s delay. Otherwise, the
966 system will hang indefinitely. Defaults to disabled, in order to avoid a
967 reboot loop. If combined with <varname>systemd.crash_shell</varname>, the
4cf0b03b 968 system is rebooted after the shell exits.</para></listitem>
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969 </varlistentry>
970
971 <varlistentry>
770c4777 972 <term><varname>systemd.confirm_spawn</varname></term>
798d3a52 973
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974 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or a path to the virtual console
975 where the confirmation messages should be emitted. Can be also specified
976 without an argument, with the same effect as a positive boolean. If enabled,
977 the system manager (PID 1) asks for confirmation when spawning processes
978 using <option>/dev/console</option>. If a path or a console name (such as
979 <literal>ttyS0</literal>) is provided, the virtual console pointed to by this
980 path or described by the give name will be used instead. Defaults to disabled.
981 </para></listitem>
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982 </varlistentry>
983
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984 <varlistentry>
985 <term><varname>systemd.service_watchdogs=</varname></term>
986
987 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If disabled, all service runtime
988 watchdogs (<option>WatchdogSec=</option>) and emergency actions (e.g.
989 <option>OnFailure=</option> or <option>StartLimitAction=</option>) are
990 ignored by the system manager (PID 1); see
991 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
992 Defaults to enabled, i.e. watchdogs and failure actions are processed
993 normally. The hardware watchdog is not affected by this
994 option.</para></listitem>
995 </varlistentry>
996
798d3a52 997 <varlistentry>
770c4777 998 <term><varname>systemd.show_status</varname></term>
798d3a52 999
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1000 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or the constant
1001 <constant>auto</constant>. Can be also specified without an argument, with
1002 the same effect as a positive boolean. If enabled, the systemd manager (PID
1003 1) shows terse service status updates on the console during bootup.
1004 <constant>auto</constant> behaves like <option>false</option> until a unit
1005 fails or there is a significant delay in boot. Defaults to enabled, unless
1006 <option>quiet</option> is passed as kernel command line option, in which case
1007 it defaults to <constant>auto</constant>. If specified overrides the system
1008 manager configuration file option <option>ShowStatus=</option>, see
1009 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
1010 However, the process command line option <option>--show-status=</option>
1011 takes precedence over both this kernel command line option and the
1012 configuration file option.</para></listitem>
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1013 </varlistentry>
1014
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1015 <varlistentry>
1016 <term><varname>systemd.status_unit_format=</varname></term>
1017
1018 <listitem><para>Takes either <option>name</option> or <option>description</option> as the value. If
1019 <option>name</option>, the system manager will use unit names in status messages. If specified,
1020 overrides the system manager configuration file option <option>StatusUnitFormat=</option>, see
1021 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
1022 </para></listitem>
1023 </varlistentry>
1024
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1025 <varlistentry>
1026 <term><varname>systemd.log_target=</varname></term>
1027 <term><varname>systemd.log_level=</varname></term>
798d3a52 1028 <term><varname>systemd.log_location=</varname></term>
770c4777 1029 <term><varname>systemd.log_color</varname></term>
798d3a52 1030
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1031 <listitem><para>Controls log output, with the same effect as the
1032 <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET</varname>,
798d3a52 1033 <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL</varname>,
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1034 <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION</varname>,
1035 <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR</varname> environment variables described above.
1036 <varname>systemd.log_color</varname> can be specified without an argument,
1037 with the same effect as a positive boolean.</para></listitem>
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1038 </varlistentry>
1039
1040 <varlistentry>
1041 <term><varname>systemd.default_standard_output=</varname></term>
1042 <term><varname>systemd.default_standard_error=</varname></term>
1043 <listitem><para>Controls default standard output and error
1044 output for services, with the same effect as the
1045 <option>--default-standard-output=</option> and
1046 <option>--default-standard-error=</option> command line
1047 arguments described above, respectively.</para></listitem>
1048 </varlistentry>
1049
1050 <varlistentry>
1051 <term><varname>systemd.setenv=</varname></term>
1052
1053 <listitem><para>Takes a string argument in the form
1054 VARIABLE=VALUE. May be used to set default environment
1055 variables to add to forked child processes. May be used more
1056 than once to set multiple variables.</para></listitem>
1057 </varlistentry>
1058
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1059 <varlistentry>
1060 <term><varname>systemd.machine_id=</varname></term>
1061
1062 <listitem><para>Takes a 32 character hex value to be
1063 used for setting the machine-id. Intended mostly for
1064 network booting where the same machine-id is desired
1065 for every boot.</para></listitem>
1066 </varlistentry>
1067
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1068 <varlistentry>
1069 <term><varname>systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy</varname></term>
1070
1071 <listitem><para>When specified without an argument or with a true argument,
1072 enables the usage of
1073 <ulink url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt">unified cgroup hierarchy</ulink>
1074 (a.k.a. cgroups-v2). When specified with a false argument, fall back to
1075 hybrid or full legacy cgroup hierarchy.</para>
1076
1077 <para>If this option is not specified, the default behaviour is determined
0fad72fa 1078 during compilation (the <option>-Ddefault-hierarchy=</option> meson
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1079 option). If the kernel does not support unified cgroup hierarchy, the legacy
1080 hierarchy will be used even if this option is specified.</para>
1081 </listitem>
1082 </varlistentry>
1083
1084 <varlistentry>
1085 <term><varname>systemd.legacy_systemd_cgroup_controller</varname></term>
1086
1087 <listitem><para>Takes effect if the full unified cgroup hierarchy is not used
1088 (see previous option). When specified without an argument or with a true
1089 argument, disables the use of "hybrid" cgroup hierarchy (i.e. a cgroups-v2
1090 tree used for systemd, and
1091 <ulink url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v1/">legacy
1092 cgroup hierarchy</ulink>, a.k.a. cgroups-v1, for other controllers), and
1093 forces a full "legacy" mode. When specified with a false argument, enables
1094 the use of "hybrid" hierarchy.</para>
1095
1096 <para>If this option is not specified, the default behaviour is determined
0fad72fa 1097 during compilation (the <option>-Ddefault-hierarchy=</option> meson
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1098 option). If the kernel does not support unified cgroup hierarchy, the legacy
1099 hierarchy will be used even if this option is specified.</para>
1100 </listitem>
1101 </varlistentry>
1102
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1103 <varlistentry>
1104 <term><varname>quiet</varname></term>
1105
1106 <listitem><para>Turn off status output at boot, much like
964c4eda 1107 <varname>systemd.show_status=no</varname> would. Note that
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1108 this option is also read by the kernel itself and disables
1109 kernel log output. Passing this option hence turns off the
1110 usual output from both the system manager and the kernel.
1111 </para></listitem>
1112 </varlistentry>
1113
1114 <varlistentry>
1115 <term><varname>debug</varname></term>
1116
1117 <listitem><para>Turn on debugging output. This is equivalent
1118 to <varname>systemd.log_level=debug</varname>. Note that this
1119 option is also read by the kernel itself and enables kernel
1120 debug output. Passing this option hence turns on the debug
1121 output from both the system manager and the
1122 kernel.</para></listitem>
1123 </varlistentry>
1124
1125 <varlistentry>
1126 <term><varname>emergency</varname></term>
dcd61450 1127 <term><varname>rd.emergency</varname></term>
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1128 <term><varname>-b</varname></term>
1129
1130 <listitem><para>Boot into emergency mode. This is equivalent
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1131 to <varname>systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname> or
1132 <varname>rd.systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname>, respectively, and
1133 provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para></listitem>
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1134 </varlistentry>
1135
1136 <varlistentry>
1137 <term><varname>rescue</varname></term>
dcd61450 1138 <term><varname>rd.rescue</varname></term>
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1139 <term><varname>single</varname></term>
1140 <term><varname>s</varname></term>
1141 <term><varname>S</varname></term>
1142 <term><varname>1</varname></term>
1143
1144 <listitem><para>Boot into rescue mode. This is equivalent to
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1145 <varname>systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname> or
1146 <varname>rd.systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname>, respectively, and
1147 provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para></listitem>
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1148 </varlistentry>
1149
1150 <varlistentry>
1151 <term><varname>2</varname></term>
1152 <term><varname>3</varname></term>
1153 <term><varname>4</varname></term>
1154 <term><varname>5</varname></term>
1155
1156 <listitem><para>Boot into the specified legacy SysV runlevel.
1157 These are equivalent to
1158 <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel2.target</varname>,
1159 <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel3.target</varname>,
1160 <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel4.target</varname>, and
1161 <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel5.target</varname>,
1162 respectively, and provided for compatibility reasons and to be
1163 easier to type.</para></listitem>
1164 </varlistentry>
1165
1166 <varlistentry>
1167 <term><varname>locale.LANG=</varname></term>
1168 <term><varname>locale.LANGUAGE=</varname></term>
1169 <term><varname>locale.LC_CTYPE=</varname></term>
1170 <term><varname>locale.LC_NUMERIC=</varname></term>
1171 <term><varname>locale.LC_TIME=</varname></term>
1172 <term><varname>locale.LC_COLLATE=</varname></term>
1173 <term><varname>locale.LC_MONETARY=</varname></term>
1174 <term><varname>locale.LC_MESSAGES=</varname></term>
1175 <term><varname>locale.LC_PAPER=</varname></term>
1176 <term><varname>locale.LC_NAME=</varname></term>
1177 <term><varname>locale.LC_ADDRESS=</varname></term>
1178 <term><varname>locale.LC_TELEPHONE=</varname></term>
1179 <term><varname>locale.LC_MEASUREMENT=</varname></term>
1180 <term><varname>locale.LC_IDENTIFICATION=</varname></term>
1181
1182 <listitem><para>Set the system locale to use. This overrides
1183 the settings in <filename>/etc/locale.conf</filename>. For
b938cb90 1184 more information, see
3ba3a79d 1185 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
798d3a52 1186 and
3ba3a79d 1187 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
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1188 </para></listitem>
1189 </varlistentry>
1190 </variablelist>
1191
1192 <para>For other kernel command line parameters understood by
1193 components of the core OS, please refer to
1194 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>kernel-command-line</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
1195 </refsect1>
1196
1197 <refsect1>
1198 <title>Sockets and FIFOs</title>
1199
1200 <variablelist>
1201 <varlistentry>
1202 <term><filename>/run/systemd/notify</filename></term>
1203
1204 <listitem><para>Daemon status notification socket. This is an
1205 <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> datagram socket and is used to
1206 implement the daemon notification logic as implemented by
1207 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
1208
1209 </varlistentry>
1210
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1211 <varlistentry>
1212 <term><filename>/run/systemd/private</filename></term>
1213
1214 <listitem><para>Used internally as communication channel
1215 between
1216 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1217 and the systemd process. This is an
1218 <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> stream socket. This interface is
1219 private to systemd and should not be used in external
1220 projects.</para></listitem>
1221 </varlistentry>
1222
1223 <varlistentry>
1224 <term><filename>/dev/initctl</filename></term>
1225
1226 <listitem><para>Limited compatibility support for the SysV
1227 client interface, as implemented by the
1228 <filename>systemd-initctl.service</filename> unit. This is a
1229 named pipe in the file system. This interface is obsolete and
1230 should not be used in new applications.</para></listitem>
1231 </varlistentry>
1232 </variablelist>
1233 </refsect1>
1234
1235 <refsect1>
1236 <title>See Also</title>
1237 <para>
28a0ad81 1238 The <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/">systemd Homepage</ulink>,
798d3a52 1239 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
3ba3a79d 1240 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
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1241 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1242 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1243 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1244 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1245 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd-daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1246 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1247 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1248 <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>pkg-config</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1249 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>kernel-command-line</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1250 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>bootup</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1251 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1252 </para>
1253 </refsect1>
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1254
1255</refentry>