dh_systemd_enable(1) — Linux manual page

DH_SYSTEMD_ENABLE(1)            Debhelper            DH_SYSTEMD_ENABLE(1)

NAME         top

       dh_systemd_enable - enable/disable systemd unit files

SYNOPSIS         top

       dh_systemd_enable [debhelper options] [--no-enable] [--name=name]
       [unit file ...]

DESCRIPTION         top

       dh_systemd_enable is a debhelper program that is responsible for
       enabling and disabling systemd unit files.

       In the simple case, it finds all unit files installed by a package
       (e.g.  bacula-fd.service) and enables them. It is not necessary
       that the machine actually runs systemd during package installation
       time, enabling happens on all machines in order to be able to
       switch from sysvinit to systemd and back.

       In the complex case, you can call dh_systemd_enable and
       dh_systemd_start manually (by overwriting the debian/rules
       targets) and specify flags per unit file. An example is colord,
       which ships colord.service, a dbus-activated service without an
       [Install] section. This service file cannot be enabled or disabled
       (a state called "static" by systemd) because it has no [Install]
       section. Therefore, running dh_systemd_enable does not make sense.

       For only generating blocks for specific service files, you need to
       pass them as arguments, e.g. dh_systemd_enable quota.service and
       dh_systemd_enable --name=quotarpc quotarpc.service.

FILES         top

       debian/package.service, debian/package@.service
           If this exists, it is installed into
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package.service (or
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package@.service) in the package build
           directory.

       debian/package.tmpfile
           If this exists, it is installed into
           usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/package.conf in the package build
           directory.

       debian/package.target, debian/package@.target
           If this exists, it is installed into
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package.target (or
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package@.target) in the package build
           directory.

       debian/package.socket, debian/package@.socket
           If this exists, it is installed into
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package.socket (or
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package@.socket) in the package build
           directory.

       debian/package.mount
           If this exists, it is installed into
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package.mount in the package build
           directory.

       debian/package.path, debian/package@.path
           If this exists, it is installed into
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package.path (or
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package@.path) in the package build
           directory.

       debian/package.timer, debian/package@.timer
           If this exists, it is installed into
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package.timer (or
           usr/lib/systemd/system/package@.timer) in the package build
           directory.

OPTIONS         top

       --no-enable
           Disable the service(s) on purge, but do not enable them on
           install.

           Note that this option does not affect whether the services are
           started.  That is controlled by dh_systemd_start(1) (using
           e.g. its --no-start option).

       --name=name
           Install the service file as name.service instead of the
           default filename, which is the package.service. When this
           parameter is used, dh_systemd_enable looks for and installs
           files named debian/package.name.service instead of the usual
           debian/package.service.

NOTES         top

       Note that this command is not idempotent. dh_prep(1) should be
       called between invocations of this command (with the same
       arguments). Otherwise, it may cause multiple instances of the same
       text to be added to maintainer scripts.

       Note that dh_systemd_enable should be run before dh_installinit.
       The default sequence in dh does the right thing, this note is only
       relevant when you are calling dh_systemd_enable manually.

SEE ALSO         top

       dh_systemd_start(1), debhelper(7)

AUTHORS         top

       pkg-systemd-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the debhelper (helper programs for
       debian/rules) project.  Information about the project can be found
       at [unknown -- if you know, please contact man-pages@man7.org] If
       you have a bug report for this manual page, send it to
       submit@bugs.debian.org.  This page was obtained from the project's
       upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://salsa.debian.org/debian/debhelper.git⟩ on 2025-08-11.
       (At that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found
       in the repository was 2025-08-10.)  If you discover any rendering
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       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

13.23                           2025-01-02           DH_SYSTEMD_ENABLE(1)

Pages that refer to this page: dh(1),  debhelper(7)

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