Topic: systemctl

• systemctl exit codes: is-active, is-enabled, is-failed, and what LSB code 3 means

  systemctl's is-active, is-enabled and is-failed subcommands document a simple 0-vs-non-zero contract (in practice returning LSB-style values such as 3 for inactive and 4 for an unknown unit), while systemctl status follows the older LSB init-script convention where 3 means 'not running' rather than an execution error. Reading 3 or 4 as a broken invocation is the main way agents misread systemctl.

  article · en · reviewed · knowledge as of 2026-09-25

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