+ <para>systemd is a system and session manager for
+ Linux operating systems. When run as first process on
+ boot (as PID 1), it acts as init system that brings
+ up and maintains userspace services.</para>
+
+ <para>For compatibility with SysV, if systemd is called
+ as <command>init</command> and a PID that is not
+ 1, it will execute <command>telinit</command> and pass
+ all command line arguments unmodified. That means
+ <command>init</command> and <command>telinit</command>
+ are mostly equivalent when invoked from normal login sessions. See
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>telinit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ for more information.</para>
+
+ <para>When run as system instance, systemd interprets
+ the configuration file
+ <filename>system.conf</filename>, otherwise
+ <filename>session.conf</filename>. See
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ for more information.</para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Options</title>
+
+ <para>The following options are understood:</para>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>-h</option></term>
+ <term><option>--help</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Prints a short help
+ text and exits.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <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>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--dump-configuration-items</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Dump understood unit
+ configuration items. This outputs a
+ terse but complete list of
+ configuration items understood in unit
+ definition files.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--introspect=</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Extract D-Bus
+ interface introspection data. This is
+ mostly useful at install time
+ to generate data suitable for the
+ D-Bus interfaces
+ repository. Optionally the interface
+ name for the introspection data may be
+ specified. If omitted, the
+ introspection data for all interfaces
+ is dumped.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--unit=</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Set default unit to
+ activate on startup. If not specified
+ defaults to
+ <filename>default.target</filename>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--running-as=</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Tell systemd to run in
+ a particular mode. Argument is one of
+ <option>system</option>,
+ <option>session</option>. Normally it
+ should not be necessary to pass this
+ option, as systemd automatically
+ detects the mode it is started
+ in. This call is hence of little use
+ except for
+ debugging.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--dump-core</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Dump core on crash. This switch has no effect when run as session instance.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--crash-shell</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Run shell on crash. This switch has no effect when run as session instance.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--confirm-spawn</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Ask for confirmation when spawning processes. This switch has no effect when run as session instance.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--show-status</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Show terse service status information while booting. This switch has no effect when run as session instance.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--log-target=</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Set log
+ target. Argument must be one of
+ <option>console</option>,
+ <option>syslog</option>,
+ <option>kmsg</option>,
+ <option>syslog-or-kmsg</option>,
+ <option>null</option>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--log-level=</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Set log level. As
+ argument this accepts a numerical log
+ level or the well-known <citerefentry><refentrytitle>syslog</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ symbolic names (lowercase):
+ <option>emerg</option>,
+ <option>alert</option>,
+ <option>crit</option>,
+ <option>err</option>,
+ <option>warning</option>,
+ <option>notice</option>,
+ <option>info</option>,
+ <option>debug</option>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--log-color=</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Highlight important
+ log messages. Argument is a boolean
+ value. If the argument is omitted it
+ defaults to
+ <option>true</option>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><option>--log-location=</option></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Include code location
+ in log messages. This is mostly
+ relevant for debugging
+ purposes. Argument is a boolean
+ value. If the argument is omitted
+ it defaults to
+ <option>true</option>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Concepts</title>
+
+ <para>systemd provides a dependency system between
+ various entities called "units". Units encapsulate
+ various objects that are relevant for system boot-up
+ and maintainance. The majority of units are configured
+ in unit configuration files, whose syntax and basic
+ set of options is described in
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ however some are created automatically from other
+ configuration or dynamically from system state. Units
+ may be active (meaning started, bound, plugged in, ...
+ depending on the unit type), or inactive (meaning
+ stopped, unbound, unplugged, ...), as well is in the
+ process of being activated or deactivated,
+ i.e. between the two states. The following unit types
+ are available:</para>
+
+ <orderedlist>
+ <listitem><para>Service units, which control
+ daemons and the processes they consist of. For
+ details see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Socket units, which
+ encapsulate local IPC or network sockets in
+ the system, useful for socket-based
+ activation. For details about socket units see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ for details on socket-based activation and
+ other forms of activation, see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Target units are useful to
+ group units, or provide well-known
+ synchronization points during boot-up, see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.target</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Device units expose kernel
+ devices in systemd and may be used to
+ implement device-based activation. For details
+ see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.device</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Mount units control mount
+ points in the file system, for details see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Automount units provide
+ automount capabilities, for on-demand mounting
+ of file systems as well as parallelized
+ boot-up. See
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.automount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Snapshot units can be used to
+ temporarily save the state of the set of
+ systemd units, which later may be restored by
+ activating the saved snapshot unit. For more
+ information see
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.automount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Timer units are useful for
+ triggering activation of other units based on
+ timers. You may find details in
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Swap units are very similar to
+ mount units and encapsulated memory swap
+ partitions or files of the operating
+ systemd. They are described in <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.swap</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>Path units may be used
+ activate other services when file system
+ objects change or are modified. See
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.path</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
+
+ </orderedlist>
+
+ <para>Units are named as their configuration
+ files. Some units have special semantics. A detailed
+ list you may find in
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
+
+ <para>On boot systemd activates the target unit
+ <filename>default.target</filename> whose job it is to
+ activate on-boot services and other on-boot units by
+ pulling them in via dependencies. Usually the unit
+ name is just an alias (symlink) for either
+ <filename>graphical.target</filename> (for
+ fully-featured boots into the UI) or
+ <filename>multi-user.target</filename> (for limited
+ console-only boots for use in embedded or server
+ environments, or similar; a subset of
+ graphical.target). However it is at the discretion of
+ the administrator to configure it as an alias to any
+ other target unit. See
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ for details about these target units.</para>
+
+ <para>Processes systemd spawns ared placed in
+ individual Linux control groups named after the unit
+ which they belong to in the private systemd
+ hierarchy. (see <ulink
+ url="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroups/cgroups.txt">cgroups.txt</ulink>
+ for more information about control groups, or short
+ "cgroups"). systemd uses this to effectively keep
+ track of processes. Control group information is
+ maintained in the kernel, and is accessible via the
+ file system hierarchy (beneath
+ <filename>/cgroup/systemd/</filename>), or in tools
+ such as
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>ps</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ (<command>ps xawf -eo pid,user,cgroup,args</command>
+ is particularly useful to list all processes and the
+ systemd units they belong to.).</para>
+
+ <para>systemd is compatible with the SysV init system
+ to a large degree: SysV init scripts are supported and
+ simply read as an alternative (though limited)
+ configuration file format. The SysV
+ <filename>/dev/initctl</filename> interface is
+ provided, and comaptibility implementations of the
+ various SysV client tools available. In addition to
+ that various established Unix functionality such as
+ <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> or the
+ <filename>utmp</filename> database are
+ supported.</para>
+
+ <para>systemd has a minimal transaction system: if a
+ unit is requested to start up or shut down it will add
+ it and all its dependencies to a temporary
+ transaction. Then, it will verify if the transaction
+ is consistent (i.e. whether the ordering of all units
+ is cycle-free). If it is not, systemd will try to fix
+ it up, and removes non-essential jobs from the
+ transaction that might remove the loop. Also, systemd
+ tries to suppress non-essential jobs in the
+ transaction that would stop a running service. Finally
+ it is checked whether the jobs of the transaction
+ contradict jobs that have already been queued, and
+ optionally the transaction is aborted then. If all
+ worked out and the transaction is consistent and
+ minimized in its impact it is merged with all already
+ outstanding jobs and added to the run
+ queue. Effectively this means that before executing a
+ requested operation, systemd will verify that it makes
+ sense, fixing it if possible, and only failing if it
+ really cannot work.</para>
+
+ <para>Systemd contains native implementations of
+ various tasks that need to be executed as part of the
+ boot process. For example, it sets the host name or
+ configures the loopback network device. It also sets
+ up and mounts various API file systems, such as
+ <filename>/sys</filename> or
+ <filename>/proc</filename>.</para>
+
+ <para>For more information about the concepts and
+ ideas behind systemd please refer to the <ulink
+ url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">Original
+ Design Document</ulink>.</para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Directories</title>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>System unit directories</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The systemd system
+ manager reads unit configuration from
+ various directories. Packages that
+ want to install unit files shall place
+ them in the directory returned by
+ <command>pkg-config systemd
+ --variable=systemdsystemunitdir</command>. Other
+ directories checked are
+ <filename>/usr/local/share/systemd/system</filename>
+ and
+ <filename>/usr/share/systemd/system</filename>. User
+ configuration always takes
+ precedence. <command>pkg-config
+ systemd
+ --variable=systemdsystemconfdir</command>
+ returns the path of the system
+ configuration directory. Packages
+ should alter the content of these directories
+ only with the
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-install</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ tool.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Session unit directories</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Similar rules apply
+ for the session unit
+ directories. However, here the <ulink
+ url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html">XDG
+ Base Directory specification</ulink>
+ is followed to find
+ units. Applications should place their
+ unit files in the directory returned
+ by <command>pkg-config systemd
+ --variable=systemdsessionunitdir</command>. Global
+ configuration is done in the
+ directory reported by
+ <command>pkg-config systemd
+ --variable=systemdsessionconfdir</command>. The
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-install</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ tool can handle both global (i.e. for
+ all users) and private (for one user)
+ enabling/disabling of
+ units.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SysV init scripts directory</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The location of the
+ SysV init script directory varies
+ between distributions. If systemd
+ cannot find a native unit file for a
+ requested service, it will look for a
+ SysV init script of the same name
+ (with the
+ <filename>.service</filename> suffix
+ removed).</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SysV runlevel link farm directory</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The location of the
+ SysV runlevel link farm directory
+ varies between distributions. systemd
+ will take the link farm into account
+ when figuring out whether a service
+ shall be enabled. Note that a service
+ unit with a native unit configuration
+ file can be started by activating it
+ in the SysV runlevel link
+ farm.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Signals</title>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGTERM</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Upon receiving this
+ signal the systemd system manager
+ serializes its state, reexecutes
+ itself and deserializes the saved
+ state again. This is mostly equivalent
+ to <command>systemctl
+ daemon-reexec</command>.</para>
+
+ <para>systemd session managers will
+ start the
+ <filename>exit.target</filename> unit
+ when this signal is received. This is
+ mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl --session start
+ exit.target</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGINT</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Upon receiving this
+ signal the systemd system manager will
+ start the
+ <filename>ctrl-alt-del.target</filename> unit. This
+ is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl start
+ ctl-alt-del.target</command>.</para>
+
+ <para>systemd session managers
+ treat this signal the same way as
+ SIGTERM.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGWINCH</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>When this signal is
+ received the systemd system manager
+ will start the
+ <filename>kbrequest.target</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl start
+ kbrequest.target</command>.</para>
+
+ <para>This signal is ignored by
+ systemd session
+ managers.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGPWR</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>When this signal is
+ received the systemd manager
+ will start the
+ <filename>sigpwr.target</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl start
+ sigpwr.target</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGUSR1</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>When this signal is
+ received the systemd manager will try
+ to reconnect to the D-Bus
+ bus.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGUSR2</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>When this signal is
+ received the systemd manager will log
+ its complete state in human readable
+ form. The data logged is the same as
+ printed by <command>systemctl
+ dump</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGHUP</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Reloads the complete
+ daemon configuration. This is mostly
+ equivalent to <command>systemctl
+ daemon-reload</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGRTMIN+0</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Enters default mode, starts the
+ <filename>default.target</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl start
+ default.target</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGRTMIN+1</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Enters rescue mode,
+ starts the
+ <filename>rescue.target</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl isolate
+ rescue.target</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGRTMIN+2</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Enters emergency mode,
+ starts the
+ <filename>emergency.service</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl isolate
+ emergency.service</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGRTMIN+3</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Halts the machine,
+ starts the
+ <filename>halt.target</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl start
+ halt.target</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGRTMIN+4</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Powers off the machine,
+ starts the
+ <filename>poweroff.target</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl start
+ poweroff.target</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>SIGRTMIN+5</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Reboots the machine,
+ starts the
+ <filename>reboot.target</filename>
+ unit. This is mostly equivalent to
+ <command>systemctl start
+ reboot.target</command>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>