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<refentry id="systemd"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
<refentryinfo>
<title>systemd</title>
<productname>systemd</productname>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<contrib>Developer</contrib>
<firstname>Lennart</firstname>
<surname>Poettering</surname>
<email>lennart@poettering.net</email>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>systemd</refname>
<refname>init</refname>
<refpurpose>systemd system and service manager</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>systemd</command>
<arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>init</command>
<arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
<arg choice="req">COMMAND</arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1>
<title>Description</title>
<para>systemd is a system and service 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 a system instance, systemd interprets the
configuration file <filename>system.conf</filename> and the files
in <filename>system.conf.d</filename> directories; when run as a
user instance, systemd interprets the configuration file
<filename>user.conf</filename> and the files in
<filename>user.conf.d</filename> directories. See
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.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>--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>--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>--system</option></term>
<term><option>--user</option></term>
<listitem><para>For <option>--system</option>, tell systemd to
run a system instance, even if the process ID is not 1, i.e.
systemd is not run as init process. <option>--user</option>
does the opposite, running a user instance even if the process
ID is 1. Normally, it should not be necessary to pass these
options, as systemd automatically detects the mode it is
started in. These options are hence of little use except for
debugging. Note that it is not supported booting and
maintaining a full system with systemd running in
<option>--system</option> mode, but PID not 1. In practice,
passing <option>--system</option> explicitly is only useful in
conjunction with <option>--test</option>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--dump-core</option></term>
<listitem><para>Enable core dumping on crash. This switch has
no effect when running as user instance. This setting may also
be enabled during boot on the kernel command line via the
<varname>systemd.dump_core=</varname> option, see
below.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--crash-vt=</option><replaceable>VT</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>Switch to a specific virtual console (VT) on
crash. Takes a positive integer in the range 1–63, or a
boolean argument. If an integer is passed, selects which VT to
switch to. If <constant>yes</constant>, the VT kernel messages
are written to is selected. If <constant>no</constant>, no VT
switch is attempted. This switch has no effect when running as
user instance. This setting may also be enabled during boot,
on the kernel command line via the
<varname>systemd.crash_vt=</varname> option, see
<!-- FIXME: there is no crash_vt command line option? -->
below.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--crash-shell</option></term>
<listitem><para>Run a shell on crash. This switch has no
effect when running as user instance. This setting may also be
enabled during boot, on the kernel command line via the
<varname>systemd.crash_shell=</varname> option, see
below.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--crash-reboot</option></term>
<listitem><para>Automatically reboot the system on crash. This
switch has no effect when running as user instance. This
setting may also be enabled during boot, on the kernel command
line via the <varname>systemd.crash_reboot=</varname> option,
see below.</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 user
instance.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--show-status=</option></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or the special value <constant>auto</constant>. If on, terse unit
status information is shown on the console during boot-up and shutdown. If off, no such status information is
shown. If set to <constant>auto</constant> behavior is similar to off, except that it is automatically switched
to on, as soon as the first unit failure or significant boot delay is encountered. This switch has no effect
when invoked as user instance. If specified, overrides both the kernel command line setting
<varname>systemd.show_status=</varname> (see below) and the configuration file option
<option>ShowStatus=</option>, see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--log-target=</option></term>
<listitem><para>Set log target. Argument must be one of
<option>console</option>,
<option>journal</option>,
<option>kmsg</option>,
<option>journal-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 project='man-pages'><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>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--default-standard-output=</option></term>
<term><option>--default-standard-error=</option></term>
<listitem><para>Sets the default output or error output for
all services and sockets, respectively. That is, controls the
default for <option>StandardOutput=</option> and
<option>StandardError=</option> (see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
for details). Takes one of
<option>inherit</option>,
<option>null</option>,
<option>tty</option>,
<option>journal</option>,
<option>journal+console</option>,
<option>syslog</option>,
<option>syslog+console</option>,
<option>kmsg</option>,
<option>kmsg+console</option>. If the
argument is omitted
<option>--default-standard-output=</option> defaults to
<option>journal</option> and
<option>--default-standard-error=</option> to
<option>inherit</option>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--machine-id=</option></term>
<listitem><para>Override the machine-id set on the hard drive,
useful for network booting or for containers. May not be set
to all zeros.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
<xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Concepts</title>
<para>systemd provides a dependency system between various
entities called "units" of 11 different types. Units encapsulate
various objects that are relevant for system boot-up and
maintenance. 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,
dynamically from system state or programmatically at runtime.
Units may be "active" (meaning started, bound, plugged in, …,
depending on the unit type, see below), or "inactive" (meaning
stopped, unbound, unplugged, …), as well as in the process of
being activated or deactivated, i.e. between the two states (these
states are called "activating", "deactivating"). A special
"failed" state is available as well, which is very similar to
"inactive" and is entered when the service failed in some way
(process returned error code on exit, or crashed, or an operation
timed out). If this state is entered, the cause will be logged,
for later reference. Note that the various unit types may have a
number of additional substates, which are mapped to the five
generalized unit states described here.</para>
<para>The following unit types are available:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>Service units, which start and 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>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
encapsulate memory swap partitions or files of the operating
system. They are described in
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.swap</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Path units may be used to activate other
services when file system objects change or are modified. See
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.path</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Slice units may be used to group units which
manage system processes (such as service and scope units) in a
hierarchical tree for resource management purposes. See
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.slice</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Scope units are similar to service units, but
manage foreign processes instead of starting them as well. See
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.scope</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>Units are named as their configuration files. Some units
have special semantics. A detailed list is available in
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
<para>systemd knows various kinds of dependencies, including
positive and negative requirement dependencies (i.e.
<varname>Requires=</varname> and <varname>Conflicts=</varname>) as
well as ordering dependencies (<varname>After=</varname> and
<varname>Before=</varname>). NB: ordering and requirement
dependencies are orthogonal. If only a requirement dependency
exists between two units (e.g. <filename>foo.service</filename>
requires <filename>bar.service</filename>), but no ordering
dependency (e.g. <filename>foo.service</filename> after
<filename>bar.service</filename>) and both are requested to start,
they will be started in parallel. It is a common pattern that both
requirement and ordering dependencies are placed between two
units. Also note that the majority of dependencies are implicitly
created and maintained by systemd. In most cases, it should be
unnecessary to declare additional dependencies manually, however
it is possible to do this.</para>
<para>Application programs and units (via dependencies) may
request state changes of units. In systemd, these requests are
encapsulated as 'jobs' and maintained in a job queue. Jobs may
succeed or can fail, their execution is ordered based on the
ordering dependencies of the units they have been scheduled
for.</para>
<para>On boot systemd activates the target unit
<filename>default.target</filename> whose job 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 are placed in individual Linux
control groups named after the unit which they belong to in the
private systemd hierarchy. (see <ulink
url="https://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>/sys/fs/cgroup/systemd/</filename>), or in tools such as
<citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>systemd-cgls</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
or
<citerefentry project='man-pages'><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
compatibility implementations of the various SysV client tools are
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 hostname 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>
<para>Note that some but not all interfaces provided
by systemd are covered by the
<ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/InterfaceStabilityPromise">Interface
Stability Promise</ulink>.</para>
<para>Units may be generated dynamically at boot and system
manager reload time, for example based on other configuration
files or parameters passed on the kernel command line. For details, see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.generator</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
<para>Systems which invoke systemd in a container or initrd
environment should implement the
<ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ContainerInterface">Container Interface</ulink> or
<ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/InitrdInterface">initrd Interface</ulink>
specifications, respectively.</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/lib/systemd/system</filename>
and <filename>/usr/lib/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
<command>enable</command> and <command>disable</command>
commands of the
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
tool. Full list of directories is provided in
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>User unit directories</term>
<listitem><para>Similar rules apply for the user 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=systemduserunitdir</command>. Global configuration
is done in the directory reported by <command>pkg-config
systemd --variable=systemduserconfdir</command>. The
<command>enable</command> and <command>disable</command>
commands of the
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
tool can handle both global (i.e. for all users) and private
(for one user) enabling/disabling of units. Full list of
directories is provided in
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</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 cannot be started by activating it in the
SysV runlevel link farm.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Signals</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGTERM</constant></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 user managers will start the
<filename>exit.target</filename> unit when this signal is
received. This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl
--user start exit.target</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGINT</constant></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>. If this signal is received more
than 7 times per 2s, an immediate reboot is triggered.
Note that pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del on the console will trigger
this signal. Hence, if a reboot is hanging, pressing
Ctrl-Alt-Del more than 7 times in 2s is a relatively safe way
to trigger an immediate reboot.</para>
<para>systemd user managers treat this signal the same way as
<constant>SIGTERM</constant>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGWINCH</constant></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 user
managers.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGPWR</constant></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><constant>SIGUSR1</constant></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><constant>SIGUSR2</constant></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>systemd-analyze dump</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGHUP</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Reloads the complete daemon configuration.
This is mostly equivalent to <command>systemctl
daemon-reload</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+0</constant></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><constant>SIGRTMIN+1</constant></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><constant>SIGRTMIN+2</constant></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><constant>SIGRTMIN+3</constant></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><constant>SIGRTMIN+4</constant></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><constant>SIGRTMIN+5</constant></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>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+6</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Reboots the machine via kexec, starts the
<filename>kexec.target</filename> unit. This is mostly
equivalent to <command>systemctl start
kexec.target</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+13</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Immediately halts the machine.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+14</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Immediately powers off the machine.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+15</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Immediately reboots the machine.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+16</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Immediately reboots the machine with kexec.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+20</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Enables display of status messages on the
console, as controlled via
<varname>systemd.show_status=1</varname> on the kernel command
line.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+21</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Disables display of
status messages on the console, as
controlled via
<varname>systemd.show_status=0</varname>
on the kernel command
line.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+22</constant></term>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+23</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Sets the log level to <literal>debug</literal>
(or <literal>info</literal> on
<constant>SIGRTMIN+23</constant>), as controlled via
<varname>systemd.log_level=debug</varname> (or
<varname>systemd.log_level=info</varname> on
<constant>SIGRTMIN+23</constant>) on the kernel command
line.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+24</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Immediately exits the manager (only available
for --user instances).</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+26</constant></term>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+27</constant></term>
<term><constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant></term>
<listitem><para>Sets the log target to
<literal>journal-or-kmsg</literal> (or
<literal>console</literal> on
<constant>SIGRTMIN+27</constant>, <literal>kmsg</literal> on
<constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant>), as controlled via
<varname>systemd.log_target=journal-or-kmsg</varname> (or
<varname>systemd.log_target=console</varname> on
<constant>SIGRTMIN+27</constant> or
<varname>systemd.log_target=kmsg</varname> on
<constant>SIGRTMIN+28</constant>) on the kernel command
line.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Environment</title>
<variablelist class='environment-variables'>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL</varname></term>
<listitem><para>systemd reads the log level from this
environment variable. This can be overridden with
<option>--log-level=</option>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET</varname></term>
<listitem><para>systemd reads the log target from this
environment variable. This can be overridden with
<option>--log-target=</option>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Controls whether systemd highlights important
log messages. This can be overridden with
<option>--log-color=</option>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Controls whether systemd prints the code
location along with log messages. This can be overridden with
<option>--log-location=</option>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME</varname></term>
<term><varname>$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS</varname></term>
<term><varname>$XDG_DATA_HOME</varname></term>
<term><varname>$XDG_DATA_DIRS</varname></term>
<listitem><para>The systemd user manager uses these variables
in accordance to the <ulink
url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html">XDG
Base Directory specification</ulink> to find its
configuration.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_UNIT_PATH</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Controls where systemd looks for unit
files.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_SYSVINIT_PATH</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Controls where systemd looks for SysV init
scripts.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_SYSVRCND_PATH</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Controls where systemd looks for SysV init
script runlevel link farms.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$SYSTEMD_COLORS</varname></term>
<listitem><para>The value must be a boolean. Controls whether colorized output should be
generated. This can be specified to override the decision that <command>systemd</command>
makes based on <varname>$TERM</varname> and what the console is connected to.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$LISTEN_PID</varname></term>
<term><varname>$LISTEN_FDS</varname></term>
<term><varname>$LISTEN_FDNAMES</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Set by systemd for supervised processes during
socket-based activation. See
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
for more information.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>$NOTIFY_SOCKET</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Set by systemd for supervised processes for
status and start-up completion notification. See
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
for more information.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Kernel Command Line</title>
<para>When run as system instance systemd parses a number of
kernel command line arguments<footnote><para>If run inside a Linux
container these arguments may be passed as command line arguments
to systemd itself, next to any of the command line options listed
in the Options section above. If run outside of Linux containers,
these arguments are parsed from <filename>/proc/cmdline</filename>
instead.</para></footnote>:</para>
<variablelist class='kernel-commandline-options'>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.unit=</varname></term>
<term><varname>rd.systemd.unit=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Overrides the unit to activate on boot.
Defaults to <filename>default.target</filename>. This may be
used to temporarily boot into a different boot unit, for
example <filename>rescue.target</filename> or
<filename>emergency.service</filename>. See
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
for details about these units. The option prefixed with
<literal>rd.</literal> is honored only in the initial RAM disk
(initrd), while the one that is not prefixed only in the main
system.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.dump_core</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
without an argument. If enabled, the systemd manager (PID 1) dumps core when
it crashes. Otherwise, no core dump is created. Defaults to enabled.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.crash_chvt</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a positive integer, or a boolean argument. Can be also
specified without an argument, with the same effect as a positive boolean. If
a positive integer (in the range 1–63) is specified, the system manager (PID
1) will activate the specified virtual terminal (VT) when it
crashes. Defaults to disabled, meaning that no such switch is attempted. If
set to enabled, the VT the kernel messages are written to is selected.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.crash_shell</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
without an argument. If enabled, the system manager (PID 1) spawns a shell
when it crashes, after a 10s delay. Otherwise, no shell is spawned. Defaults
to disabled, for security reasons, as the shell is not protected by password
authentication.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.crash_reboot</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or enables the option if specified
without an argument. If enabled, the system manager (PID 1) will reboot the
machine automatically when it crashes, after a 10s delay. Otherwise, the
system will hang indefinitely. Defaults to disabled, in order to avoid a
reboot loop. If combined with <varname>systemd.crash_shell</varname>, the
system is rebooted after the shell exits.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.confirm_spawn</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or a path to the virtual console
where the confirmation messages should be emitted. Can be also specified
without an argument, with the same effect as a positive boolean. If enabled,
the system manager (PID 1) asks for confirmation when spawning processes
using <option>/dev/console</option>. If a path or a console name (such as
<literal>ttyS0</literal>) is provided, the virtual console pointed to by this
path or described by the give name will be used instead. Defaults to disabled.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.show_status</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument or the constant
<constant>auto</constant>. Can be also specified without an argument, with
the same effect as a positive boolean. If enabled, the systemd manager (PID
1) shows terse service status updates on the console during bootup.
<constant>auto</constant> behaves like <option>false</option> until a unit
fails or there is a significant delay in boot. Defaults to enabled, unless
<option>quiet</option> is passed as kernel command line option, in which case
it defaults to <constant>auto</constant>. If specified overrides the system
manager configuration file option <option>ShowStatus=</option>, see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
However, the process command line option <option>--show-status=</option>
takes precedence over both this kernel command line option and the
configuration file option.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.log_target=</varname></term>
<term><varname>systemd.log_level=</varname></term>
<term><varname>systemd.log_location=</varname></term>
<term><varname>systemd.log_color</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Controls log output, with the same effect as the
<varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET</varname>,
<varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL</varname>,
<varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION</varname>,
<varname>$SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR</varname> environment variables described above.
<varname>systemd.log_color</varname> can be specified without an argument,
with the same effect as a positive boolean.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.default_standard_output=</varname></term>
<term><varname>systemd.default_standard_error=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Controls default standard output and error
output for services, with the same effect as the
<option>--default-standard-output=</option> and
<option>--default-standard-error=</option> command line
arguments described above, respectively.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.setenv=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a string argument in the form
VARIABLE=VALUE. May be used to set default environment
variables to add to forked child processes. May be used more
than once to set multiple variables.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.machine_id=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes a 32 character hex value to be
used for setting the machine-id. Intended mostly for
network booting where the same machine-id is desired
for every boot.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy</varname></term>
<listitem><para>When specified without an argument or with a true argument,
enables the usage of
<ulink url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt">unified cgroup hierarchy</ulink>
(a.k.a. cgroups-v2). When specified with a false argument, fall back to
hybrid or full legacy cgroup hierarchy.</para>
<para>If this option is not specified, the default behaviour is determined
during compilation (the <option>--with-default-hierarchy=</option>
option). If the kernel does not support unified cgroup hierarchy, the legacy
hierarchy will be used even if this option is specified.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>systemd.legacy_systemd_cgroup_controller</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Takes effect if the full unified cgroup hierarchy is not used
(see previous option). When specified without an argument or with a true
argument, disables the use of "hybrid" cgroup hierarchy (i.e. a cgroups-v2
tree used for systemd, and
<ulink url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v1/">legacy
cgroup hierarchy</ulink>, a.k.a. cgroups-v1, for other controllers), and
forces a full "legacy" mode. When specified with a false argument, enables
the use of "hybrid" hierarchy.</para>
<para>If this option is not specified, the default behaviour is determined
during compilation (the <option>--with-default-hierarchy=</option>
option). If the kernel does not support unified cgroup hierarchy, the legacy
hierarchy will be used even if this option is specified.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>quiet</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Turn off status output at boot, much like
<varname>systemd.show_status=false</varname> would. Note that
this option is also read by the kernel itself and disables
kernel log output. Passing this option hence turns off the
usual output from both the system manager and the kernel.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>debug</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Turn on debugging output. This is equivalent
to <varname>systemd.log_level=debug</varname>. Note that this
option is also read by the kernel itself and enables kernel
debug output. Passing this option hence turns on the debug
output from both the system manager and the
kernel.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>emergency</varname></term>
<term><varname>rd.emergency</varname></term>
<term><varname>-b</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Boot into emergency mode. This is equivalent
to <varname>systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname> or
<varname>rd.systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname>, respectively, and
provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>rescue</varname></term>
<term><varname>rd.rescue</varname></term>
<term><varname>single</varname></term>
<term><varname>s</varname></term>
<term><varname>S</varname></term>
<term><varname>1</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Boot into rescue mode. This is equivalent to
<varname>systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname> or
<varname>rd.systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname>, respectively, and
provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>2</varname></term>
<term><varname>3</varname></term>
<term><varname>4</varname></term>
<term><varname>5</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Boot into the specified legacy SysV runlevel.
These are equivalent to
<varname>systemd.unit=runlevel2.target</varname>,
<varname>systemd.unit=runlevel3.target</varname>,
<varname>systemd.unit=runlevel4.target</varname>, and
<varname>systemd.unit=runlevel5.target</varname>,
respectively, and provided for compatibility reasons and to be
easier to type.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>locale.LANG=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LANGUAGE=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_CTYPE=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_NUMERIC=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_TIME=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_COLLATE=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_MONETARY=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_MESSAGES=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_PAPER=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_NAME=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_ADDRESS=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_TELEPHONE=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_MEASUREMENT=</varname></term>
<term><varname>locale.LC_IDENTIFICATION=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>Set the system locale to use. This overrides
the settings in <filename>/etc/locale.conf</filename>. For
more information, see
<citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
and
<citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>For other kernel command line parameters understood by
components of the core OS, please refer to
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>kernel-command-line</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Sockets and FIFOs</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/run/systemd/notify</filename></term>
<listitem><para>Daemon status notification socket. This is an
<constant>AF_UNIX</constant> datagram socket and is used to
implement the daemon notification logic as implemented by
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/run/systemd/private</filename></term>
<listitem><para>Used internally as communication channel
between
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
and the systemd process. This is an
<constant>AF_UNIX</constant> stream socket. This interface is
private to systemd and should not be used in external
projects.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/dev/initctl</filename></term>
<listitem><para>Limited compatibility support for the SysV
client interface, as implemented by the
<filename>systemd-initctl.service</filename> unit. This is a
named pipe in the file system. This interface is obsolete and
should not be used in new applications.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<para>
The <ulink url="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/">systemd Homepage</ulink>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-notify</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd-daemon</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.special</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>pkg-config</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>kernel-command-line</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>bootup</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>