this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2024

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

submitted 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

57 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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

can it do mask/unmask?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Notvin this version. I'll add that and more for the next release.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 44 minutes ago

cool!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 hours ago

Didn’t know Pedro pascal was a coder

[–] ikidd 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

Yes i think it's called systemdGenie

[–] [email protected] 25 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours 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.

[–] ikidd 5 points 9 hours 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] 2 points 12 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago

this dude boots 😎

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Does it support per-user systemd services?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago

It will, in the next release.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

Some other projects for the same usage:

https://github.com/KDE/systemdgenie

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

😇

[–] [email protected] 12 points 18 hours 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] 19 points 18 hours 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] 7 points 18 hours ago

Yeah i hate managing systemd stuff because its messy on terminal

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours 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.

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

I use Systemd-Manager since a long time now and it worked always well. But it could well be, that it is unmaintained..

[–] [email protected] 39 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours 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] 5 points 16 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago

This is good. We need more GUI tools to keep the noobs out of the terminal. Not only because that gives a better impression, but it also protects them from doing a command wrong and really hurting something.

[–] slampisko 4 points 14 hours 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🤔

[–] KarmaPolice 7 points 12 hours 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] 3 points 10 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours ago

https://github.com/joehillen/sysz

[–] [email protected] 12 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

What license are you offering it under?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

GPL v3.

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

Btw add license to the repo and license info to readme

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Thanks, will do.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 18 hours ago

The only right choice! Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I miss the days before SystemD, it seemed simpler.

[–] Hawke 2 points 8 hours ago

Autoexec.bat or bust!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Any chance this lands in the AUR?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 17 hours ago

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

[–] Eideen 11 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Nice i will try it out.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 22 hours ago

Thanks :) Hope you find it useful

[–] [email protected] 9 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours 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] 11 points 22 hours 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] 14 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours 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] 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

And the RestartSomethingInterval=0 option so systemd keeps restarting the program like an obedient machine it should be, not give up because it's tired

[–] [email protected] 8 points 21 hours ago

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] 3 points 18 hours 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.

[–] TunaLobster 3 points 20 hours 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] 2 points 16 hours ago

Cool. I have been using the built in YAST2 GUI services on OpenSUSE. But for other machines COCKPIT webgui uses systems to view and manage services.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Awesome, Flatpak?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 17 hours ago

Yes flatpak will be realesed too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 21 hours ago

Thanks for this! Works pretty well when testing -

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