---
name: "dh_systemd_start"
section: "1p"
platform: "linux"
package: "dh-systemd"
version: "1.22"
release: "Debian 8 (Jessie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dh_systemd_start/1p"
---

# dh\_systemd\_start(1p)

start/stop/restart systemd unit files

## NAME

dh\_systemd\_start - start/stop/restart systemd unit files

## SYNOPSIS

**dh\_systemd\_start** \[*debhelper options*\] \[**--restart-after-upgrade**\] \[**--no-restart-on-upgrade**\] \[*unit file* ...\]

## DESCRIPTION

**dh\_systemd\_start** is a debhelper program that is responsible for starting/stopping or restarting systemd unit files in case no corresponding sysv init script is available.

As with **dh\_installinit**, the unit file is stopped before upgrades and started afterwards (unless **--restart-after-upgrade** is specified, in which case it will only be restarted after the upgrade). This logic is not used when there is a corresponding SysV init script because invoke-rc.d performs the stop/start/restart in that case.

## OPTIONS

- **--restart-after-upgrade**

  Do not stop the unit file until after the package upgrade has been completed. This is different than the default behavior, which stops the unit file in the *prerm* and starts it again in the *postinst* maintscript.

  This can be useful for daemons that should not have a possibly long downtime during upgrade. But you should make sure that the daemon will not get confused by the package being upgraded while it's running before using this option.

- **-r**, **--no-restart-on-upgrade**

  Do not stop service on upgrade.

- **--no-start**

  Do not start the unit file after upgrades and after initial installation (the latter is only relevant for services without a corresponding init script).

## NOTES

Note that this command is not idempotent. [*dh\_prep*(1)](/dh_prep/1.md) 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\_start** should be run after **dh\_installinit** so that it can detect corresponding SysV init scripts. The default sequence in **dh** does the right thing, this note is only relevant when you are calling **dh\_systemd\_start** manually.

## SEE ALSO

[*debhelper*(7)](/debhelper/7.md)

## AUTHORS

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