Is there a GUI tool for managing systemd on Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver)?

Question

Is there a GUI tool for managing systemd on Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver)?

I want to be able so see the status of services and/or units (and/or whatever else systemd calls them).

Ideally, I could also filter so as to only display running services. Also filter to only display enabled services.

Apparently, Ubuntu 16.04 had systemd-ui, which I never used.

This article from 2011 mentions some other tools that existed long ago on various Linux distributions.

If there is not a GUI tool, is there a curses tool?

I want to be able to quickly review a list of running and enabled services, and in as few key presses as possible, stop and disable the services/units that I don't want.

Thanks!

Solution 1

I wrote a Lua + whiptail script that can display, stop, and disable Systemd units. The script is here:

https://github.com/mpbcode/systemctl-ui

Solution 2

I'm surprised no one has mentioned chkservice yet. A curses tool for enabling,disabling, and starting/stopping systemd units. It's even in the usual apt repo, so you can just sudo apt install chkservice.

Solution 3

I'm not aware of one. It doesn't get much faster than than the CLI commands though:

systemctl status
systemctl stop some-service
systemctl disable some-service 

Solution 4

These five...

• KDE: SystemdGenie (= Kcmsystemd for KDE 5)
• GTK: Systemd System Manager - Last Update 2015
• GTK: Systemd Manager - Website down
• Web: Cockpit

...are listed here:

• EN: https://www.linux-magazine.com/Issues/2017/199/Systemd-Graphical-Tools
• DE: https://www.linux-magazin.de/ausgaben/2017/03/bitparade/

So, if you use KDE, there may be two for you.

A screenshot of SystemdGenie:

Solution 5

If you are using amd64 system, you can download the packages systemd-ui_3-4_amd64.deb and systemd-gui_3-4_all.deb from Xenial Repository and manually install with apt:

sudo apt install ./systemd-ui_3-4_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./systemd-gui_3-4_all.deb

I did this and worked like a charm.

systemadm

Bibliography:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd-ui https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/systemd-gui_3-4_all.deb https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/systemd-ui_3-4_amd64.deb

View more solutions

Comments

[Tushar Gautam]

You may find Cockpit Project helpful. It's available under GNU LGPL. cockpit-project.org

[Videonauth]

systemctl --type service --state running gives a proper list of services which are currently running.

[mYnDstrEAm]

That's useful, but not really a GUI.

[Kat Amsterdam]

Not everyone has the memory or the knowlege to use the command line. A GUI guides a user towards the thing they are looking to do. The command line you have to do from memory. A Command Line is great for power users but not a good alternative for beginners.

[Chris Vilches]

I tried, but it has cryptic stuff like [s], [x], -m- (it doesn't explain what these mean). The idea of a GUI is that it's not cryptic like the non-GUI version. But thanks for the software recommendation.

[Christian Fritz]

Try hitting ? for the help screen. It includes a legend to the cryptic stuff: [x] - enabled unit [ ] - disabled unit [s] - static unit -m- - masked unit

[Admin]

deeply disappointed with this one. I'm trying to build a timer here and it's showing as -m- without explanation or hint. can't restart or do anything, do not get any help msg from the likes of systemd or chkservice. In for another day of googling and tinkering BECAUSE ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE BY NERDS FOR NERDS ONLY

[Admin]

John, I assume you saw the comment right above your own which said -m- - masked unit. Does that help you?

[Admin]

@JohnFrazer: systemd is a core infrastructure software for system administration and management. So yes, ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE FOR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS ONLY. Some learning is expected and required. It's not meant for end users.