this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2024

325 points (97.4% liked)

Linux

48844 readers

1238 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

325

Introducing SystemD Pilot, GUI app for managing systemd services (github.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

62 comments fedilink hide all child comments

SystemD Pilot is a desktop application for managing systemd services on GNU/linux machines. The app is very lightweight and supports common tasks such as starting and stopping systemd services.

It can also show detailed status for each service.

Features: List services

Filter by running state

Start, Stop, Restart, Enable and Disable services + show status for each service

Create override configuration for any unit file using the edit button

Option for reloading systemd manager configuration (systemctl daemon-reload)

Easy search. Just start typing and the app will find relevant services

Lightweight

Available for download as deb, rpm and AppImage

Integration into GNOME desktop (libadwaita)

Made with love for the FOSS community. Please give it a try and share your thoughts.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Fantastic, Linux needs tools like this for users who need to make occasional changes and inspect systemd.

For inspiration, I would suggest you also look at LaunchControl, which is a GUI tool to administer launchd on macOS.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

There are some. COCKPIT would probably suit most people. OpenSUSE has a GUI Services tool built into YAST

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Some other projects for the same usage:

https://github.com/KDE/systemdgenie

https://github.com/GuillaumeGomez/systemd-manager

😇

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nice, thanks! So weird these tools are not commonly used - managing systemd remains one of the common terminal PITAs for everyone who doesn't appreciate the Great Holy Terminal

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Funny thing is, that there are many things I prefer the terminal for, but systemd deamons are not these things 😂

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah i hate managing systemd stuff because its messy on terminal

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Aren't those defunct? I was looking for examples of exactly this a while back and none of them were being actively maintained.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

NO! NO, I WON'T HAVE IT!

I will not give up my command line, obscure, non-obvious commands that control my machine!

It is an abomination that I don't have to search for, and then wade through hundreds of AI generated pages of useless information just to show me what services are running with systemd!

I am seriously considering starting my own startup system. I am thinking I could initiate (init) runlevels to start subsystems at various stages. If anyone is interested, hit me up.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe you can script everything, with convoluted interconnections that are impossible to troubleshoot. Now that would be the way to control all the systems behind impenetrable obfuscation and keep those dratted normies from understanding anything.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

wade through hundreds of AI generated pages of useless information

I personally find the best use of AI is to read those pages of useless information and summarise what I actually want to know.

Google: " hugo, show total number of posts not including pages " = advertising, a billion pages of partially but not entirely relevant information that takes ages to wade through.

Gemini: same question: Clear explanation and working examples in seconds.

They're both google, but one knows what I'm actually trying to say and doesn't (yet) push advertising at me.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What license are you offering it under?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

GPL v3.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

The only right choice! Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Btw add license to the repo and license info to readme

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks, will do.

[–] Grandwolf319 13 points 2 weeks ago

Didn’t know Pedro pascal was a coder

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nice i will try it out.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks :) Hope you find it useful

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Oooh this will be perfect for a bunch of stuff I do.

Can you create new services or do you still need to create the .service file manually?

What about .timer files?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I've been thinking about a "create new service" feature but I'm not sure about two things: 1.how useful it can be 2.how to implement this to actually make life easier for end users

Adding a generic template would not be difficult.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I would absolutely use it. In fact creating and editing services would be the primary selling point IMO. It doesn't need to be much "easier" than doing it in the terminal or file explorer, to me the primary benefit would just be the ease of use of creating, loading, and starting a new service all in one place.

I think a generic template would be great.

You could turn the whole thing into a giant GUI settings screen, allowing navigation to an exectuable, after which you could provide some of the most typical options as sliders, number fields, switches, or whatever is suitable. But that would be a large amount of work, and I'm not sure it would simplify things much.

The starting point should just be a text field, but with a link to the service file docs for help/reference.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Brilliant thanks for your feedback and thoughts. Will look into this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

As far as i can tell a full gui for systemd service files would be practically impossible. But a template ui would be sick, maybe something like an app autostart template could look like this:

Program: 

Launch options:

When: early/normal/login/graphical-start

Restart: never/once/always

Just spitballing here though.

load more comments (3 replies)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Even if the new service is "just" a text field for code + the name of the service. If it saves it in the right location for you its useful. Not having to fiddle with that stuff as an end user is nice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Done! Chack out the latest version.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Making life easier for end users means more documentation about what you are doing. I mean that's the main difference between Commandline and a GUI.

Oh look Avahi Service, let's stop it, what does it mean to stop it.

Creating a new Service, sure but what is needed, are there examples? Formfill lines with a hint what's needed, maybe some dropdown entries?

You got what I mean.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Just having something that shows the field options and formats it correctly would be fantastic. Tooltips and all that could be added later to lower the bar of entry for new users.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Any chance this lands in the AUR?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I've not used arch for years but I'll look into this.

[–] Jumuta 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

can it do mask/unmask?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Not in this version. I'll add that and more for the next release.

[–] Jumuta 3 points 2 weeks ago

cool!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks for this! Works pretty well when testing -

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Awesome, Flatpak?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

Yes flatpak will be realesed too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Does it support per-user systemd services?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

It will, in the next release.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I miss the days before SystemD, it seemed simpler.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Autoexec.bat or bust!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

I am running a headless server, but still want to make managing my systemd services easier. Any recommendations? I think I'm looking for something that is to systemd what htop is to top🤔

EDIT: Thanks for all the recs!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

I know you asked for cli apps, and maybe you have already heard of it, but in case you haven't, cockpit is a pretty nice web UI for managing your server (not just systemd services, but everything)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Funnily enough, just saw people on Lemmy talking about this one the other day

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

https://github.com/joehillen/sysz

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Looks neat, does its job.

If you're a power-user looking at this, you can also look at https://github.com/rgwood/systemctl-tui which is somewhat similar but seems to be more useful (for now), also showing the service logs and being easily navigable with a keyboard.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I remember there being a KCM for Plasma Settings that did this sort of thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yes i think it's called systemdGenie

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Really cool bro. Always loved GUI for command line utils!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Finally!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

oh it's not an official thing, that could probably use some more clarification as the name makes it sound like something developed by the systemd people

load more comments