1<?xml version='1.0'?>
2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
5
6<refentry id="systemd"
7    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
8
9  <refentryinfo>
10    <title>systemd</title>
11    <productname>systemd</productname>
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>
27      <command>/usr/lib/systemd/systemd</command>
28      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
29    </cmdsynopsis>
30    <cmdsynopsis>
31      <command>init</command>
32      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
33      <arg choice="req">COMMAND</arg>
34    </cmdsynopsis>
35  </refsynopsisdiv>
36
37  <refsect1>
38    <title>Description</title>
39
40    <para>systemd is a system and service manager for Linux operating systems. When run as first process on
41    boot (as PID 1), it acts as init system that brings up and maintains userspace services. Separate
42    instances are started for logged-in users to start their services.</para>
43
44    <para><command>systemd</command> is usually not invoked directly by the user, but is installed as the
45    <filename>/sbin/init</filename> symlink and started during early boot. The user manager instances are
46    started automatically through the
47    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>user@.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
48    service.</para>
49
50    <para>For compatibility with SysV, if the binary is called as <command>init</command> and is not the
51    first process on the machine (PID is not 1), it will execute <command>telinit</command> and pass all
52    command line arguments unmodified. That means <command>init</command> and <command>telinit</command> are
53    mostly equivalent when invoked from normal login sessions. See
54    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>telinit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> for more
55    information.</para>
56
57    <para>When run as a system instance, systemd interprets the
58    configuration file <filename>system.conf</filename> and the files
59    in <filename>system.conf.d</filename> directories; when run as a
60    user instance, systemd interprets the configuration file
61    <filename>user.conf</filename> and the files in
62    <filename>user.conf.d</filename> directories. See
63    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
64    for more information.</para>
65  </refsect1>
66
67  <refsect1>
68    <title>Concepts</title>
69
70    <para>systemd provides a dependency system between various
71    entities called "units" of 11 different types. Units encapsulate
72    various objects that are relevant for system boot-up and
73    maintenance. The majority of units are configured in unit
74    configuration files, whose syntax and basic set of options is
75    described in
76    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
77    however some are created automatically from other configuration
78    files, dynamically from system state or programmatically at runtime.
79    Units may be "active" (meaning started, bound, plugged in, …,
80    depending on the unit type, see below), or "inactive" (meaning
81    stopped, unbound, unplugged, …), as well as in the process of
82    being activated or deactivated, i.e. between the two states (these
83    states are called "activating", "deactivating"). A special
84    "failed" state is available as well, which is very similar to
85    "inactive" and is entered when the service failed in some way
86    (process returned error code on exit, or crashed, an operation
87    timed out, or after too many restarts). If this state is entered,
88    the cause will be logged, for later reference. Note that the
89    various unit types may have a number of additional substates,
90    which are mapped to the five generalized unit states described
91    here.</para>
92
93    <para>The following unit types are available:</para>
94
95    <orderedlist>
96      <listitem><para>Service units, which start and control daemons
97      and the processes they consist of. For details, see
98      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
99
100      <listitem><para>Socket units, which encapsulate local IPC or
101      network sockets in the system, useful for socket-based
102      activation. For details about socket units, see
103      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
104      for details on socket-based activation and other forms of
105      activation, see
106      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
107
108      <listitem><para>Target units are useful to group units, or
109      provide well-known synchronization points during boot-up, see
110      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.target</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
111
112      <listitem><para>Device units expose kernel devices in systemd
113      and may be used to implement device-based activation. For
114      details, see
115      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.device</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
116
117      <listitem><para>Mount units control mount points in the file
118      system, for details see
119      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
120
121      <listitem><para>Automount units provide automount capabilities,
122      for on-demand mounting of file systems as well as parallelized
123      boot-up. See
124      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.automount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
125
126      <listitem><para>Timer units are useful for triggering activation
127      of other units based on timers. You may find details in
128      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.timer</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
129
130      <listitem><para>Swap units are very similar to mount units and
131      encapsulate memory swap partitions or files of the operating
132      system. They are described in
133      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.swap</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
134
135      <listitem><para>Path units may be used to activate other
136      services when file system objects change or are modified. See
137      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.path</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
138
139      <listitem><para>Slice units may be used to group units which
140      manage system processes (such as service and scope units) in a
141      hierarchical tree for resource management purposes. See
142      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.slice</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
143
144      <listitem><para>Scope units are similar to service units, but
145      manage foreign processes instead of starting them as well. See
146      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.scope</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
147
148    </orderedlist>
149
150    <para>Units are named as their configuration files. Some units
151    have special semantics. A detailed list is available in
152    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
153
154    <para>systemd knows various kinds of dependencies, including
155    positive and negative requirement dependencies (i.e.
156    <varname>Requires=</varname> and <varname>Conflicts=</varname>) as
157    well as ordering dependencies (<varname>After=</varname> and
158    <varname>Before=</varname>). NB: ordering and requirement
159    dependencies are orthogonal. If only a requirement dependency
160    exists between two units (e.g. <filename>foo.service</filename>
161    requires <filename>bar.service</filename>), but no ordering
162    dependency (e.g. <filename>foo.service</filename> after
163    <filename>bar.service</filename>) and both are requested to start,
164    they will be started in parallel. It is a common pattern that both
165    requirement and ordering dependencies are placed between two
166    units. Also note that the majority of dependencies are implicitly
167    created and maintained by systemd. In most cases, it should be
168    unnecessary to declare additional dependencies manually, however
169    it is possible to do this.</para>
170
171    <para>Application programs and units (via dependencies) may
172    request state changes of units. In systemd, these requests are
173    encapsulated as 'jobs' and maintained in a job queue. Jobs may
174    succeed or can fail, their execution is ordered based on the
175    ordering dependencies of the units they have been scheduled
176    for.</para>
177
178    <para>On boot systemd activates the target unit
179    <filename>default.target</filename> whose job is to activate
180    on-boot services and other on-boot units by pulling them in via
181    dependencies. Usually, the unit name is just an alias (symlink) for
182    either <filename>graphical.target</filename> (for fully-featured
183    boots into the UI) or <filename>multi-user.target</filename> (for
184    limited console-only boots for use in embedded or server
185    environments, or similar; a subset of graphical.target). However,
186    it is at the discretion of the administrator to configure it as an
187    alias to any other target unit. See
188    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
189    for details about these target units.</para>
190
191    <para>systemd only keeps a minimal set of units loaded into memory. Specifically, the only units that are kept
192    loaded into memory are those for which at least one of the following conditions is true:</para>
193
194    <orderedlist>
195      <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>
196      <listitem><para>It has a job queued for it</para></listitem>
197      <listitem><para>It is a dependency of at least one other unit that is loaded into memory</para></listitem>
198      <listitem><para>It has some form of resource still allocated (e.g. a service unit that is inactive but for which
199      a process is still lingering that ignored the request to be terminated)</para></listitem>
200      <listitem><para>It has been pinned into memory programmatically by a D-Bus call</para></listitem>
201    </orderedlist>
202
203    <para>systemd will automatically and implicitly load units from disk — if they are not loaded yet — as soon as
204    operations are requested for them. Thus, in many respects, the fact whether a unit is loaded or not is invisible to
205    clients. Use <command>systemctl list-units --all</command> to comprehensively list all units currently loaded. Any
206    unit for which none of the conditions above applies is promptly unloaded. Note that when a unit is unloaded from
207    memory its accounting data is flushed out too. However, this data is generally not lost, as a journal log record
208    is generated declaring the consumed resources whenever a unit shuts down.</para>
209
210    <para>Processes systemd spawns are placed in individual Linux
211    control groups named after the unit which they belong to in the
212    private systemd hierarchy. (see <ulink
213    url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v1/cgroups.txt">cgroups.txt</ulink>
214    for more information about control groups, or short "cgroups").
215    systemd uses this to effectively keep track of processes. Control
216    group information is maintained in the kernel, and is accessible
217    via the file system hierarchy (beneath
218    <filename>/sys/fs/cgroup/systemd/</filename>), or in tools such as
219    <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>systemd-cgls</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
220    or
221    <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>ps</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
222    (<command>ps xawf -eo pid,user,cgroup,args</command> is
223    particularly useful to list all processes and the systemd units
224    they belong to.).</para>
225
226    <para>systemd is compatible with the SysV init system to a large
227    degree: SysV init scripts are supported and simply read as an
228    alternative (though limited) configuration file format. The SysV
229    <filename>/dev/initctl</filename> interface is provided, and
230    compatibility implementations of the various SysV client tools are
231    available. In addition to that, various established Unix
232    functionality such as <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> or the
233    <filename>utmp</filename> database are supported.</para>
234
235    <para>systemd has a minimal transaction system: if a unit is
236    requested to start up or shut down it will add it and all its
237    dependencies to a temporary transaction. Then, it will verify if
238    the transaction is consistent (i.e. whether the ordering of all
239    units is cycle-free). If it is not, systemd will try to fix it up,
240    and removes non-essential jobs from the transaction that might
241    remove the loop. Also, systemd tries to suppress non-essential
242    jobs in the transaction that would stop a running service. Finally
243    it is checked whether the jobs of the transaction contradict jobs
244    that have already been queued, and optionally the transaction is
245    aborted then. If all worked out and the transaction is consistent
246    and minimized in its impact it is merged with all already
247    outstanding jobs and added to the run queue. Effectively this
248    means that before executing a requested operation, systemd will
249    verify that it makes sense, fixing it if possible, and only
250    failing if it really cannot work.</para>
251
252    <para>Note that transactions are generated independently of a unit's
253    state at runtime, hence, for example, if a start job is requested on an
254    already started unit, it will still generate a transaction and wake up any
255    inactive dependencies (and cause propagation of other jobs as per the
256    defined relationships). This is because the enqueued job is at the time of
257    execution compared to the target unit's state and is marked successful and
258    complete when both satisfy. However, this job also pulls in other
259    dependencies due to the defined relationships and thus leads to, in our
260    example, start jobs for any of those inactive units getting queued as
261    well.</para>
262
263    <para>systemd contains native implementations of various tasks
264    that need to be executed as part of the boot process. For example,
265    it sets the hostname or configures the loopback network device. It
266    also sets up and mounts various API file systems, such as
267    <filename>/sys/</filename> or <filename>/proc/</filename>.</para>
268
269    <para>For more information about the concepts and
270    ideas behind systemd, please refer to the
271    <ulink url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html">Original Design Document</ulink>.</para>
272
273    <para>Note that some but not all interfaces provided by systemd are covered by the
274    <ulink url="https://systemd.io/PORTABILITY_AND_STABILITY/">Interface Portability and Stability Promise</ulink>.</para>
275
276    <para>Units may be generated dynamically at boot and system
277    manager reload time, for example based on other configuration
278    files or parameters passed on the kernel command line. For details, see
279    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.generator</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
280
281    <para>The D-Bus API of <command>systemd</command> is described in
282    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>org.freedesktop.systemd1</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
283    and
284    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>org.freedesktop.LogControl1</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
285    </para>
286
287    <para>Systems which invoke systemd in a container or initrd environment should implement the <ulink
288    url="https://systemd.io/CONTAINER_INTERFACE">Container Interface</ulink> or
289    <ulink url="https://systemd.io/INITRD_INTERFACE/">initrd Interface</ulink>
290    specifications, respectively.</para>
291  </refsect1>
292
293  <refsect1>
294    <title>Directories</title>
295
296    <variablelist>
297      <varlistentry>
298        <term>System unit directories</term>
299
300        <listitem><para>The systemd system manager reads unit
301        configuration from various directories. Packages that want to
302        install unit files shall place them in the directory returned
303        by <command>pkg-config systemd
304        --variable=systemdsystemunitdir</command>. Other directories
305        checked are <filename>/usr/local/lib/systemd/system</filename>
306        and <filename>/usr/lib/systemd/system</filename>. User
307        configuration always takes precedence. <command>pkg-config
308        systemd --variable=systemdsystemconfdir</command> returns the
309        path of the system configuration directory. Packages should
310        alter the content of these directories only with the
311        <command>enable</command> and <command>disable</command>
312        commands of the
313        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
314        tool. Full list of directories is provided in
315        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
316        </para></listitem>
317      </varlistentry>
318    </variablelist>
319
320    <variablelist>
321      <varlistentry>
322        <term>User unit directories</term>
323
324        <listitem><para>Similar rules apply for the user unit
325        directories. However, here the
326        <ulink url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html">XDG
327        Base Directory specification</ulink> is followed to find
328        units. Applications should place their unit files in the
329        directory returned by <command>pkg-config systemd
330        --variable=systemduserunitdir</command>. Global configuration
331        is done in the directory reported by <command>pkg-config
332        systemd --variable=systemduserconfdir</command>. The
333        <command>enable</command> and <command>disable</command>
334        commands of the
335        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
336        tool can handle both global (i.e. for all users) and private
337        (for one user) enabling/disabling of units. Full list of
338        directories is provided in
339        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
340        </para></listitem>
341      </varlistentry>
342    </variablelist>
343
344    <variablelist>
345      <varlistentry>
346        <term>SysV init scripts directory</term>
347
348        <listitem><para>The location of the SysV init script directory
349        varies between distributions. If systemd cannot find a native
350        unit file for a requested service, it will look for a SysV
351        init script of the same name (with the
352        <filename>.service</filename> suffix
353        removed).</para></listitem>
354      </varlistentry>
355    </variablelist>
356
357    <variablelist>
358      <varlistentry>
359        <term>SysV runlevel link farm directory</term>
360
361        <listitem><para>The location of the SysV runlevel link farm
362        directory varies between distributions. systemd will take the
363        link farm into account when figuring out whether a service
364        shall be enabled. Note that a service unit with a native unit
365        configuration file cannot be started by activating it in the
366        SysV runlevel link farm.</para></listitem>
367      </varlistentry>
368    </variablelist>
369  </refsect1>
370
371  <refsect1>
372    <title>Signals</title>
373
374    <variablelist>
375      <varlistentry>
376        <term><constant>SIGTERM</constant></term>
377
378        <listitem><para>Upon receiving this signal the systemd system
379        manager serializes its state, reexecutes itself and
380        deserializes the saved state again. This is mostly equivalent
381        to <command>systemctl daemon-reexec</command>.</para>
382
383        <para>systemd user managers will start the
384        <filename>exit.target</filename> unit when this signal is
385        received. This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl
386        --user start exit.target
387        --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para></listitem>
388      </varlistentry>
389
390      <varlistentry>
391        <term><constant>SIGINT</constant></term>
392
393        <listitem><para>Upon receiving this signal the systemd system manager will start the
394        <filename>ctrl-alt-del.target</filename> unit. This is mostly equivalent to
395        <command>systemctl start ctrl-alt-del.target --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>. If
396        this signal is received more than 7 times per 2s, an immediate reboot is triggered. Note
397        that pressing
398        <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>Del</keycap></keycombo> on the
399        console will trigger this signal. Hence, if a reboot is hanging, pressing
400        <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>Del</keycap></keycombo> more than
401        7 times in 2 seconds is a relatively safe way to trigger an immediate reboot.</para>
402
403        <para>systemd user managers treat this signal the same way as
404        <constant>SIGTERM</constant>.</para></listitem>
405      </varlistentry>
406
407      <varlistentry>
408        <term><constant>SIGWINCH</constant></term>
409
410        <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
411        system manager will start the
412        <filename>kbrequest.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
413        equivalent to <command>systemctl start
414        kbrequest.target</command>.</para>
415
416        <para>This signal is ignored by systemd user
417        managers.</para></listitem>
418      </varlistentry>
419
420      <varlistentry>
421        <term><constant>SIGPWR</constant></term>
422
423        <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
424        manager will start the <filename>sigpwr.target</filename>
425        unit. This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl start
426        sigpwr.target</command>.</para></listitem>
427      </varlistentry>
428
429      <varlistentry>
430        <term><constant>SIGUSR1</constant></term>
431
432        <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
433        manager will try to reconnect to the D-Bus
434        bus.</para></listitem>
435      </varlistentry>
436
437      <varlistentry>
438        <term><constant>SIGUSR2</constant></term>
439
440        <listitem><para>When this signal is received the systemd
441        manager will log its complete state in human-readable form.
442        The data logged is the same as printed by
443        <command>systemd-analyze dump</command>.</para></listitem>
444      </varlistentry>
445
446      <varlistentry>
447        <term><constant>SIGHUP</constant></term>
448
449        <listitem><para>Reloads the complete daemon configuration.
450        This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl
451        daemon-reload</command>.</para></listitem>
452      </varlistentry>
453
454      <varlistentry>
455        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+0</constant></term>
456
457        <listitem><para>Enters default mode, starts the
458        <filename>default.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
459        equivalent to <command>systemctl isolate
460        default.target</command>.</para></listitem>
461      </varlistentry>
462
463      <varlistentry>
464        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+1</constant></term>
465
466        <listitem><para>Enters rescue mode, starts the
467        <filename>rescue.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
468        equivalent to <command>systemctl isolate
469        rescue.target</command>.</para></listitem>
470      </varlistentry>
471
472      <varlistentry>
473        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+2</constant></term>
474
475        <listitem><para>Enters emergency mode, starts the
476        <filename>emergency.service</filename> unit. This is mostly
477        equivalent to <command>systemctl isolate
478        emergency.service</command>.</para></listitem>
479      </varlistentry>
480
481      <varlistentry>
482        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+3</constant></term>
483
484        <listitem><para>Halts the machine, starts the
485        <filename>halt.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
486        equivalent to <command>systemctl start halt.target
487        --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
488        </listitem>
489      </varlistentry>
490
491      <varlistentry>
492        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+4</constant></term>
493
494        <listitem><para>Powers off the machine, starts the
495        <filename>poweroff.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
496        equivalent to <command>systemctl start poweroff.target
497        --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
498        </listitem>
499      </varlistentry>
500
501      <varlistentry>
502        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+5</constant></term>
503
504        <listitem><para>Reboots the machine, starts the
505        <filename>reboot.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
506        equivalent to <command>systemctl start reboot.target
507        --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
508        </listitem>
509      </varlistentry>
510
511      <varlistentry>
512        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+6</constant></term>
513
514        <listitem><para>Reboots the machine via kexec, starts the
515        <filename>kexec.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
516        equivalent to <command>systemctl start kexec.target
517        --job-mode=replace-irreversibly</command>.</para>
518        </listitem>
519      </varlistentry>
520
521      <varlistentry>
522        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+13</constant></term>
523
524        <listitem><para>Immediately halts the machine.</para></listitem>
525      </varlistentry>
526
527      <varlistentry>
528        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+14</constant></term>
529
530        <listitem><para>Immediately powers off the machine.</para></listitem>
531      </varlistentry>
532
533      <varlistentry>
534        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+15</constant></term>
535
536        <listitem><para>Immediately reboots the machine.</para></listitem>
537      </varlistentry>
538
539      <varlistentry>
540        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+16</constant></term>
541
542        <listitem><para>Immediately reboots the machine with kexec.</para></listitem>
543      </varlistentry>
544
545      <varlistentry>
546        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+20</constant></term>
547
548        <listitem><para>Enables display of status messages on the
549        console, as controlled via
550        <varname>systemd.show_status=1</varname> on the kernel command
551        line.</para></listitem>
552      </varlistentry>
553
554      <varlistentry>
555        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+21</constant></term>
556
557        <listitem><para>Disables display of
558        status messages on the console, as
559        controlled via
560        <varname>systemd.show_status=0</varname>
561        on the kernel command
562        line.</para></listitem>
563      </varlistentry>
564
565      <varlistentry>
566        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+22</constant></term>
567
568        <listitem><para>Sets the service manager's log level to <literal>debug</literal>, in a fashion equivalent to
569        <varname>systemd.log_level=debug</varname> on the kernel command line.</para></listitem>
570      </varlistentry>
571
572      <varlistentry>
573        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+23</constant></term>
574
575        <listitem><para>Restores the log level to its configured value. The configured value is derived from – in order
576        of priority – the value specified with <varname>systemd.log-level=</varname> on the kernel command line, or the
577        value specified with <option>LogLevel=</option> in the configuration file, or the built-in default of
578        <literal>info</literal>.</para></listitem>
579      </varlistentry>
580
581      <varlistentry>
582        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+24</constant></term>
583
584        <listitem><para>Immediately exits the manager (only available
585        for --user instances).</para></listitem>
586      </varlistentry>
587
588      <varlistentry>
589        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+25</constant></term>
590
591        <listitem><para>Upon receiving this signal the systemd manager will reexecute itself. This
592        is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl daemon-reexec</command> except that it will be
593        done asynchronously.</para>
594
595        <para>The systemd system manager treats this signal the same way as
596        <constant>SIGTERM</constant>.</para></listitem>
597      </varlistentry>
598
599      <varlistentry>
600        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+26</constant></term>
601
602        <listitem><para>Restores the log target to its configured value. The configured value is derived from – in
603        order of priority – the value specified with <varname>systemd.log-target=</varname> on the kernel command line,
604        or the value specified with <option>LogTarget=</option> in the configuration file, or the built-in
605        default.</para></listitem>
606      </varlistentry>
607
608      <varlistentry>
609        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+27</constant></term>
610        <term><constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant></term>
611
612        <listitem><para>Sets the log target to <literal>console</literal> on <constant>SIGRTMIN+27</constant> (or
613        <literal>kmsg</literal> on <constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant>), in a fashion equivalent to
614        <varname>systemd.log_target=console</varname> (or <varname>systemd.log_target=kmsg</varname> on
615        <constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant>) on the kernel command line.</para></listitem>
616      </varlistentry>
617    </variablelist>
618  </refsect1>
619
620  <refsect1>
621    <title>Environment</title>
622
623    <para>The environment block for the system manager is initially set by the kernel. (In particular,
624    <literal>key=value</literal> assignments on the kernel command line are turned into environment
625    variables for PID 1). For the user manager, the system manager sets the environment as described in the
626    "Environment Variables in Spawned Processes" section of
627    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>. The
628    <varname>DefaultEnvironment=</varname> setting in the system manager applies to all services including
629    <filename>user@.service</filename>. Additional entries may be configured (as for any other service)
630    through the <varname>Environment=</varname> and <varname>EnvironmentFile=</varname> settings for
631    <filename>user@.service</filename> (see
632    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>). Also,
633    additional environment variables may be set through the <varname>ManagerEnvironment=</varname> setting in
634    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
635    and
636    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-user.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
637    </para>
638
639    <para>Some of the variables understood by <command>systemd</command>:</para>
640
641    <variablelist class='environment-variables'>
642      <varlistentry>
643        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL</varname></term>
644        <listitem><xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="log-level-body" />
645
646        <para>This can be overridden with <option>--log-level=</option>.</para></listitem>
647      </varlistentry>
648
649      <varlistentry>
650        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR</varname></term>
651        <listitem><xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="log-color-body" />
652
653        <para>This can be overridden with <option>--log-color=</option>.</para></listitem>
654      </varlistentry>
655
656      <varlistentry>
657        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TIME</varname></term>
658        <listitem><xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="log-time-body" />
659
660        <para>This can be overridden with <option>--log-time=</option>.</para></listitem>
661      </varlistentry>
662
663      <varlistentry>
664        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION</varname></term>
665        <listitem><xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="log-location-body" />
666
667        <para>This can be overridden with <option>--log-location=</option>.</para></listitem>
668      </varlistentry>
669
670      <varlistentry>
671        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TID</varname></term>
672        <listitem><xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="log-tid-body" /></listitem>
673      </varlistentry>
674
675      <varlistentry>
676        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET</varname></term>
677        <listitem><xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="log-target-body" />
678
679        <para>This can be overridden with <option>--log-target=</option>.</para></listitem>
680      </varlistentry>
681
682      <varlistentry>
683        <term><varname>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME</varname></term>
684        <term><varname>$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS</varname></term>
685        <term><varname>$XDG_DATA_HOME</varname></term>
686        <term><varname>$XDG_DATA_DIRS</varname></term>
687
688        <listitem><para>The systemd user manager uses these variables
689        in accordance to the <ulink
690        url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html">XDG
691        Base Directory specification</ulink> to find its
692        configuration.</para></listitem>
693      </varlistentry>
694
695      <varlistentry>
696        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_UNIT_PATH</varname></term>
697        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_GENERATOR_PATH</varname></term>
698        <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_ENVIRONMENT_GENERATOR_PATH</varname></term>
699
700        <listitem><para>Controls where systemd looks for unit files and
701        generators.</para>
702        <para>These variables may contain a list of paths, separated by colons
703        (<literal>:</literal>). When set, if the list ends with an empty
704        component (<literal>...:</literal>), this list is prepended to the
705        usual set of paths. Otherwise, the specified list replaces the usual
706        set of paths.
707        </para></listitem>
708      </varlistentry>
709
710      <xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="pager"/>
711      <xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="less"/>
712      <xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="lesscharset"/>
713      <xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="lesssecure"/>
714      <xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="colors"/>
715      <xi:include href="common-variables.xml" xpointer="urlify"/>
716
717      <varlistentry>
718        <term><varname>$LISTEN_PID</varname></term>
719        <term><varname>$LISTEN_FDS</varname></term>
720        <term><varname>$LISTEN_FDNAMES</varname></term>
721
722        <listitem><para>Set by systemd for supervised processes during
723        socket-based activation. See
724        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
725        for more information.</para></listitem>
726      </varlistentry>
727
728      <varlistentry>
729        <term><varname>$NOTIFY_SOCKET</varname></term>
730
731        <listitem><para>Set by systemd for supervised processes for
732        status and start-up completion notification. See
733        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
734        for more information.</para></listitem>
735      </varlistentry>
736    </variablelist>
737
738    <para>For further environment variables understood by systemd and its various components, see <ulink
739    url="https://systemd.io/ENVIRONMENT">Known Environment Variables</ulink>.</para>
740  </refsect1>
741
742  <refsect1>
743    <title>Kernel Command Line</title>
744
745    <para>When run as the system instance, systemd parses a number of options listed below. They can be
746    specified as kernel command line arguments which are parsed from a number of sources depending on the
747    environment in which systemd is executed. If run inside a Linux container, these options are parsed from
748    the command line arguments passed to systemd itself, next to any of the command line options listed in
749    the Options section above. If run outside of Linux containers, these arguments are parsed from
750    <filename>/proc/cmdline</filename> and from the <literal>SystemdOptions</literal> EFI variable
751    (on EFI systems) instead. Options from <filename>/proc/cmdline</filename> have higher priority. The
752    following variables are understood:</para>
753
754    <variablelist class='kernel-commandline-options'>
755      <varlistentry>
756        <term><varname>systemd.unit=</varname></term>
757        <term><varname>rd.systemd.unit=</varname></term>
758
759        <listitem><para>Overrides the unit to activate on boot.
760        Defaults to <filename>default.target</filename>. This may be
761        used to temporarily boot into a different boot unit, for
762        example <filename>rescue.target</filename> or
763        <filename>emergency.service</filename>. See
764        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
765        for details about these units. The option prefixed with
766        <literal>rd.</literal> is honored only in the initial RAM disk
767        (initrd), while the one that is not prefixed only in the main
768        system.</para></listitem>
769      </varlistentry>
770
771      <varlistentry>
772        <term><varname>systemd.dump_core</varname></term>
773
774        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
775        without an argument. If enabled, the systemd manager (PID 1) dumps core when
776        it crashes. Otherwise, no core dump is created. Defaults to enabled.</para>
777        </listitem>
778      </varlistentry>
779
780      <varlistentry>
781        <term><varname>systemd.crash_chvt</varname></term>
782
783        <listitem><para>Takes a positive integer, or a boolean argument. Can be also specified without an
784        argument, with the same effect as a positive boolean. If a positive integer (in the range 1–63) is
785        specified, the system manager (PID 1) will activate the specified virtual terminal when it crashes.
786        Defaults to disabled, meaning that no such switch is attempted. If set to enabled, the virtual
787        terminal the kernel messages are written to is used instead.</para></listitem>
788      </varlistentry>
789
790      <varlistentry>
791        <term><varname>systemd.crash_shell</varname></term>
792
793        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
794        without an argument. If enabled, the system manager (PID 1) spawns a shell
795        when it crashes, after a 10s delay. Otherwise, no shell is spawned. Defaults
796        to disabled, for security reasons, as the shell is not protected by password
797        authentication.</para></listitem>
798      </varlistentry>
799
800      <varlistentry>
801        <term><varname>systemd.crash_reboot</varname></term>
802
803        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
804        without an argument. If enabled, the system manager (PID 1) will reboot the
805        machine automatically when it crashes, after a 10s delay.  Otherwise, the
806        system will hang indefinitely. Defaults to disabled, in order to avoid a
807        reboot loop. If combined with <varname>systemd.crash_shell</varname>, the
808        system is rebooted after the shell exits.</para></listitem>
809      </varlistentry>
810
811      <varlistentry>
812        <term><varname>systemd.confirm_spawn</varname></term>
813
814        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or a path to the virtual console
815        where the confirmation messages should be emitted. Can be also specified
816        without an argument, with the same effect as a positive boolean. If enabled,
817        the system manager (PID 1) asks for confirmation when spawning processes
818        using <option>/dev/console</option>. If a path or a console name (such as
819        <literal>ttyS0</literal>) is provided, the virtual console pointed to by this
820        path or described by the give name will be used instead. Defaults to disabled.
821        </para></listitem>
822      </varlistentry>
823
824      <varlistentry>
825        <term><varname>systemd.service_watchdogs=</varname></term>
826
827        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If disabled, all service runtime
828        watchdogs (<option>WatchdogSec=</option>) and emergency actions (e.g.
829        <option>OnFailure=</option> or <option>StartLimitAction=</option>) are
830        ignored by the system manager (PID 1); see
831        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
832        Defaults to enabled, i.e. watchdogs and failure actions are processed
833        normally. The hardware watchdog is not affected by this
834        option.</para></listitem>
835      </varlistentry>
836
837      <varlistentry>
838        <term><varname>systemd.show_status</varname></term>
839
840        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or the constants <constant>error</constant> and
841        <constant>auto</constant>. Can be also specified without an argument, with the same effect as a
842        positive boolean. If enabled, the systemd manager (PID 1) shows terse service status updates on the
843        console during bootup. With <constant>error</constant>, only messages about failures are shown, but
844        boot is otherwise quiet. <constant>auto</constant> behaves like <option>false</option> until there is
845        a significant delay in boot. Defaults to enabled, unless <option>quiet</option> is passed as kernel
846        command line option, in which case it defaults to <constant>error</constant>. If specified overrides
847        the system manager configuration file option <option>ShowStatus=</option>, see
848        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
849        </para></listitem>
850      </varlistentry>
851
852      <varlistentry>
853        <term><varname>systemd.status_unit_format=</varname></term>
854
855        <listitem><para>Takes <option>name</option>, <option>description</option> or
856        <option>combined</option> as the value. If <option>name</option>, the system manager will use unit
857        names in status messages. If <option>combined</option>, the system manager will use unit names and
858        description in status messages. When specified, overrides the system manager configuration file
859        option <option>StatusUnitFormat=</option>, see
860        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
861        </para></listitem>
862      </varlistentry>
863
864      <varlistentry>
865        <term><varname>systemd.log_color</varname></term>
866        <term><varname>systemd.log_level=</varname></term>
867        <term><varname>systemd.log_location</varname></term>
868        <term><varname>systemd.log_target=</varname></term>
869        <term><varname>systemd.log_time</varname></term>
870        <term><varname>systemd.log_tid</varname></term>
871
872        <listitem><para>Controls log output, with the same effect as the
873        <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR</varname>, <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL</varname>,
874        <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION</varname>, <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET</varname>,
875        <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TIME</varname>, and <varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TID</varname> environment variables
876        described above. <varname>systemd.log_color</varname>, <varname>systemd.log_location</varname>,
877        <varname>systemd.log_time</varname>, and <varname>systemd.log_tid=</varname> can be specified without
878        an argument, with the same effect as a positive boolean.</para></listitem>
879      </varlistentry>
880
881      <varlistentry>
882        <term><varname>systemd.default_standard_output=</varname></term>
883        <term><varname>systemd.default_standard_error=</varname></term>
884
885        <listitem><para>Controls default standard output and error output for services and sockets. That is,
886        controls the default for <option>StandardOutput=</option> and <option>StandardError=</option> (see
887        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
888        details). Takes one of <option>inherit</option>, <option>null</option>, <option>tty</option>,
889        <option>journal</option>, <option>journal+console</option>, <option>kmsg</option>,
890        <option>kmsg+console</option>. If the argument is omitted
891        <varname>systemd.default-standard-output=</varname> defaults to <option>journal</option> and
892        <varname>systemd.default-standard-error=</varname> to <option>inherit</option>.</para></listitem>
893      </varlistentry>
894
895      <varlistentry>
896        <term><varname>systemd.setenv=</varname></term>
897
898        <listitem><para>Takes a string argument in the form
899        VARIABLE=VALUE. May be used to set default environment
900        variables to add to forked child processes. May be used more
901        than once to set multiple variables.</para></listitem>
902      </varlistentry>
903
904      <varlistentry>
905        <term><varname>systemd.machine_id=</varname></term>
906
907        <listitem><para>Takes a 32 character hex value to be
908        used for setting the machine-id. Intended mostly for
909        network booting where the same machine-id is desired
910        for every boot.</para></listitem>
911      </varlistentry>
912
913      <varlistentry>
914        <term><varname>systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy</varname></term>
915
916        <listitem><para>When specified without an argument or with a true argument,
917        enables the usage of
918        <ulink url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.html">unified cgroup hierarchy</ulink>
919        (a.k.a. cgroups-v2). When specified with a false argument, fall back to
920        hybrid or full legacy cgroup hierarchy.</para>
921
922        <para>If this option is not specified, the default behaviour is determined
923        during compilation (the <option>-Ddefault-hierarchy=</option> meson
924        option). If the kernel does not support unified cgroup hierarchy, the legacy
925        hierarchy will be used even if this option is specified.</para>
926        </listitem>
927      </varlistentry>
928
929      <varlistentry>
930        <term><varname>systemd.legacy_systemd_cgroup_controller</varname></term>
931
932        <listitem><para>Takes effect if the full unified cgroup hierarchy is not used
933        (see previous option). When specified without an argument or with a true
934        argument, disables the use of "hybrid" cgroup hierarchy (i.e. a cgroups-v2
935        tree used for systemd, and
936        <ulink url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v1/">legacy
937        cgroup hierarchy</ulink>, a.k.a. cgroups-v1, for other controllers), and
938        forces a full "legacy" mode. When specified with a false argument, enables
939        the use of "hybrid" hierarchy.</para>
940
941        <para>If this option is not specified, the default behaviour is determined
942        during compilation (the <option>-Ddefault-hierarchy=</option> meson
943        option). If the kernel does not support unified cgroup hierarchy, the legacy
944        hierarchy will be used  even if this option is specified.</para>
945        </listitem>
946      </varlistentry>
947
948      <varlistentry>
949        <term><varname>systemd.set_credential=</varname></term>
950
951        <listitem><para>Sets a system credential, which can then be propagated to system services using the
952        <varname>LoadCredential=</varname> setting, see
953        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
954        details. Takes a pair of credential name and value, separated by a colon. Note that the kernel
955        command line is typically accessible by unprivileged programs in
956        <filename>/proc/cmdline</filename>. Thus, this mechanism is not suitable for transferring sensitive
957        data. Use it only for data that is not sensitive (e.g. public keys/certificates, rather than private
958        keys), or in testing/debugging environments.</para>
959
960        <para>For further information see <ulink url="https://systemd.io/CREDENTIALS">System and Service
961        Credentials</ulink> documentation.</para></listitem>
962      </varlistentry>
963
964      <varlistentry>
965        <term><varname>systemd.import_credentials=</varname></term>
966
967        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If false disables importing credentials from the kernel
968        command line, qemu_fw_cfg subsystem or the kernel command line.</para></listitem>
969      </varlistentry>
970
971      <varlistentry>
972        <term><varname>quiet</varname></term>
973
974        <listitem><para>Turn off status output at boot, much like
975        <varname>systemd.show_status=no</varname> would. Note that
976        this option is also read by the kernel itself and disables
977        kernel log output. Passing this option hence turns off the
978        usual output from both the system manager and the kernel.
979        </para></listitem>
980      </varlistentry>
981
982      <varlistentry>
983        <term><varname>debug</varname></term>
984
985        <listitem><para>Turn on debugging output. This is equivalent
986        to <varname>systemd.log_level=debug</varname>. Note that this
987        option is also read by the kernel itself and enables kernel
988        debug output. Passing this option hence turns on the debug
989        output from both the system manager and the
990        kernel.</para></listitem>
991      </varlistentry>
992
993      <varlistentry>
994        <term><varname>emergency</varname></term>
995        <term><varname>rd.emergency</varname></term>
996        <term><varname>-b</varname></term>
997
998        <listitem><para>Boot into emergency mode. This is equivalent
999        to <varname>systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname> or
1000        <varname>rd.systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname>, respectively, and
1001        provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para></listitem>
1002      </varlistentry>
1003
1004      <varlistentry>
1005        <term><varname>rescue</varname></term>
1006        <term><varname>rd.rescue</varname></term>
1007        <term><varname>single</varname></term>
1008        <term><varname>s</varname></term>
1009        <term><varname>S</varname></term>
1010        <term><varname>1</varname></term>
1011
1012        <listitem><para>Boot into rescue mode. This is equivalent to
1013        <varname>systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname> or
1014        <varname>rd.systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname>, respectively, and
1015        provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para></listitem>
1016      </varlistentry>
1017
1018      <varlistentry>
1019        <term><varname>2</varname></term>
1020        <term><varname>3</varname></term>
1021        <term><varname>4</varname></term>
1022        <term><varname>5</varname></term>
1023
1024        <listitem><para>Boot into the specified legacy SysV runlevel.
1025        These are equivalent to
1026        <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel2.target</varname>,
1027        <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel3.target</varname>,
1028        <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel4.target</varname>, and
1029        <varname>systemd.unit=runlevel5.target</varname>,
1030        respectively, and provided for compatibility reasons and to be
1031        easier to type.</para></listitem>
1032      </varlistentry>
1033
1034      <varlistentry>
1035        <term><varname>locale.LANG=</varname></term>
1036        <term><varname>locale.LANGUAGE=</varname></term>
1037        <term><varname>locale.LC_CTYPE=</varname></term>
1038        <term><varname>locale.LC_NUMERIC=</varname></term>
1039        <term><varname>locale.LC_TIME=</varname></term>
1040        <term><varname>locale.LC_COLLATE=</varname></term>
1041        <term><varname>locale.LC_MONETARY=</varname></term>
1042        <term><varname>locale.LC_MESSAGES=</varname></term>
1043        <term><varname>locale.LC_PAPER=</varname></term>
1044        <term><varname>locale.LC_NAME=</varname></term>
1045        <term><varname>locale.LC_ADDRESS=</varname></term>
1046        <term><varname>locale.LC_TELEPHONE=</varname></term>
1047        <term><varname>locale.LC_MEASUREMENT=</varname></term>
1048        <term><varname>locale.LC_IDENTIFICATION=</varname></term>
1049
1050        <listitem><para>Set the system locale to use. This overrides
1051        the settings in <filename>/etc/locale.conf</filename>. For
1052        more information, see
1053        <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1054        and
1055        <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
1056        </para></listitem>
1057      </varlistentry>
1058    </variablelist>
1059
1060    <para>For other kernel command line parameters understood by
1061    components of the core OS, please refer to
1062    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>kernel-command-line</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
1063  </refsect1>
1064
1065  <refsect1>
1066    <title>Options</title>
1067
1068    <para><command>systemd</command> is only very rarely invoked directly, since it is started early and is
1069    already running by the time users may interact with it. Normally, tools like
1070    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> are used to
1071    give commands to the manager. Since <command>systemd</command> is usually not invoked directly, the
1072    options listed below are mostly useful for debugging and special purposes.</para>
1073
1074    <refsect2>
1075      <title>Introspection and debugging options</title>
1076
1077      <para>Those options are used for testing and introspection, and <command>systemd</command> may
1078      be invoked with them at any time:</para>
1079
1080      <variablelist>
1081        <varlistentry>
1082          <term><option>--dump-configuration-items</option></term>
1083
1084          <listitem><para>Dump understood unit configuration items. This outputs a terse but complete list of
1085          configuration items understood in unit definition files.</para></listitem>
1086        </varlistentry>
1087
1088        <varlistentry>
1089          <term><option>--dump-bus-properties</option></term>
1090
1091          <listitem><para>Dump exposed bus properties. This outputs a terse but complete list of properties
1092          exposed on D-Bus.</para></listitem>
1093        </varlistentry>
1094
1095        <varlistentry>
1096          <term><option>--test</option></term>
1097
1098          <listitem><para>Determine the initial start-up transaction (i.e. the list of jobs enqueued at
1099          start-up), dump it and exit — without actually executing any of the determined jobs. This option is
1100          useful for debugging only. Note that during regular service manager start-up additional units not
1101          shown by this operation may be started, because hardware, socket, bus or other kinds of activation
1102          might add additional jobs as the transaction is executed. Use <option>--system</option> to request
1103          the initial transaction of the system service manager (this is also the implied default), combine
1104          with <option>--user</option> to request the initial transaction of the per-user service manager
1105          instead.</para></listitem>
1106        </varlistentry>
1107
1108        <varlistentry>
1109          <term><option>--system</option></term>
1110          <term><option>--user</option></term>
1111
1112          <listitem><para>When used in conjunction with <option>--test</option>, selects whether to calculate
1113          the initial transaction for the system instance or for a per-user instance. These options have no
1114          effect when invoked without <option>--test</option>, as during regular
1115          (i.e. non-<option>--test</option>) invocations the service manager will automatically detect
1116          whether it shall operate in system or per-user mode, by checking whether the PID it is run as is 1
1117          or not. Note that it is not supported booting and maintaining a system with the service manager
1118          running in <option>--system</option> mode but with a PID other than 1.</para></listitem>
1119        </varlistentry>
1120
1121        <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
1122        <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
1123      </variablelist>
1124    </refsect2>
1125
1126    <refsect2>
1127      <title>Options that duplicate kernel command line settings</title>
1128
1129      <para>Those options correspond directly to options listed above in "Kernel Command Line". Both forms
1130      may be used equivalently for the system manager, but it is recommended to use the forms listed above in
1131      this context, because they are properly namespaced. When an option is specified both on the kernel
1132      command line and as a normal command line argument, the latter has higher precedence.</para>
1133
1134      <para>When <command>systemd</command> is used as a user manager, the kernel command line is ignored and
1135      only the options described below are understood. Nevertheless, <command>systemd</command> is usually
1136      started in this mode through the
1137      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>user@.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1138      service, which is shared between all users. It may be more convenient to use configuration files to
1139      modify settings (see
1140      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-user.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>),
1141      or environment variables. See the "Environment" section above for a discussion of how the environment
1142      block is set.</para>
1143
1144      <variablelist>
1145        <varlistentry>
1146          <term><option>--unit=</option></term>
1147
1148          <listitem><para>Set default unit to activate on startup. If not specified, defaults to
1149          <filename>default.target</filename>. See <varname>systemd.unit=</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1150        </varlistentry>
1151
1152        <varlistentry>
1153          <term><option>--dump-core</option></term>
1154
1155          <listitem><para>Enable core dumping on crash. This switch has no effect when running as user
1156          instance. Same as <varname>systemd.dump_core=</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1157        </varlistentry>
1158
1159        <varlistentry>
1160          <term><option>--crash-vt=</option><replaceable>VT</replaceable></term>
1161
1162          <listitem><para>Switch to a specific virtual console (VT) on crash. This switch has no effect when
1163          running as user instance. Same as <varname>systemd.crash_chvt=</varname> above (but not the
1164          different spelling!).</para></listitem>
1165        </varlistentry>
1166
1167        <varlistentry>
1168          <term><option>--crash-shell</option></term>
1169
1170          <listitem><para>Run a shell on crash. This switch has no effect when running as user instance. See
1171          <varname>systemd.crash_shell=</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1172        </varlistentry>
1173
1174        <varlistentry>
1175          <term><option>--crash-reboot</option></term>
1176
1177          <listitem><para>Automatically reboot the system on crash. This switch has no effect when running as
1178          user instance. See <varname>systemd.crash_reboot</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1179        </varlistentry>
1180
1181        <varlistentry>
1182          <term><option>--confirm-spawn</option></term>
1183
1184          <listitem><para>Ask for confirmation when spawning processes. This switch has no effect when run as
1185          user instance. See <varname>systemd.confirm_spawn</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1186        </varlistentry>
1187
1188        <varlistentry>
1189          <term><option>--show-status</option></term>
1190
1191          <listitem><para>Show terse unit status information on the console during boot-up and shutdown. See
1192          <varname>systemd.show_status</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1193        </varlistentry>
1194
1195        <varlistentry>
1196          <term><option>--log-color</option></term>
1197
1198          <listitem><para>Highlight important log messages. See <varname>systemd.log_color</varname> above.
1199          </para></listitem>
1200        </varlistentry>
1201
1202        <varlistentry>
1203          <term><option>--log-level=</option></term>
1204
1205          <listitem><para>Set log level. See <varname>systemd.log_level</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1206        </varlistentry>
1207
1208        <varlistentry>
1209          <term><option>--log-location</option></term>
1210
1211          <listitem><para>Include code location in log messages. See <varname>systemd.log_location</varname>
1212          above.</para></listitem>
1213        </varlistentry>
1214
1215        <varlistentry>
1216          <term><option>--log-target=</option></term>
1217
1218          <listitem><para>Set log target. See <varname>systemd.log_target</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1219        </varlistentry>
1220
1221        <varlistentry>
1222          <term><option>--log-time=</option></term>
1223
1224          <listitem><para>Prefix console messages with timestamp. See <varname>systemd.log_time</varname> above.
1225          </para></listitem>
1226        </varlistentry>
1227
1228        <varlistentry>
1229          <term><option>--machine-id=</option></term>
1230
1231          <listitem><para>Override the machine-id set on the hard drive. See
1232          <varname>systemd.machine_id=</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1233        </varlistentry>
1234
1235        <varlistentry>
1236          <term><option>--service-watchdogs</option></term>
1237
1238          <listitem><para>Globally enable/disable all service watchdog timeouts and emergency actions. See
1239          <varname>systemd.service_watchdogs</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1240        </varlistentry>
1241
1242        <varlistentry>
1243          <term><option>--default-standard-output=</option></term>
1244          <term><option>--default-standard-error=</option></term>
1245
1246          <listitem><para>Sets the default output or error output for all services and sockets,
1247          respectively. See <varname>systemd.default_standard_output=</varname> and
1248          <varname>systemd.default_standard_error=</varname> above.</para></listitem>
1249        </varlistentry>
1250      </variablelist>
1251    </refsect2>
1252  </refsect1>
1253
1254  <refsect1>
1255    <title>Sockets and FIFOs</title>
1256
1257    <variablelist>
1258      <varlistentry>
1259        <term><filename>/run/systemd/notify</filename></term>
1260
1261        <listitem><para>Daemon status notification socket. This is an
1262        <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> datagram socket and is used to
1263        implement the daemon notification logic as implemented by
1264        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
1265
1266      </varlistentry>
1267
1268      <varlistentry>
1269        <term><filename>/run/systemd/private</filename></term>
1270
1271        <listitem><para>Used internally as communication channel
1272        between
1273        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1274        and the systemd process. This is an
1275        <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> stream socket. This interface is
1276        private to systemd and should not be used in external
1277        projects.</para></listitem>
1278      </varlistentry>
1279
1280      <varlistentry>
1281        <term><filename>/dev/initctl</filename></term>
1282
1283        <listitem><para>Limited compatibility support for the SysV
1284        client interface, as implemented by the
1285        <filename>systemd-initctl.service</filename> unit. This is a
1286        named pipe in the file system. This interface is obsolete and
1287        should not be used in new applications.</para></listitem>
1288      </varlistentry>
1289    </variablelist>
1290  </refsect1>
1291
1292  <refsect1>
1293    <title>See Also</title>
1294    <para>
1295      The <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/">systemd Homepage</ulink>,
1296      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1297      <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1298      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1299      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1300      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1301      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1302      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd-daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1303      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>org.freedesktop.systemd1</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1304      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1305      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1306      <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>pkg-config</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1307      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>kernel-command-line</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1308      <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>bootup</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1309      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1310    </para>
1311  </refsect1>
1312
1313</refentry>
1314