How to see the systemd version?
How to see the systemd version?
Run systemctl with the '--version' option.
systemctl --versionSystemd has multiple ways to show its version, support for features, paths, and user information. Let’s have a look at the different methods and what information it shows.
Using systemctl
A quick way to check the systemd version and the features it supports is using systemctl with the --type option. The first line will show the version, the second includes what features are supported, which are typically compiled by a Linux distribution.
# systemctl --version
systemd 252 (252.31-1~deb12u1)
+PAM +AUDIT +SELINUX +APPARMOR +IMA +SMACK +SECCOMP +GCRYPT -GNUTLS +OPENSSL +ACL +BLKID +CURL +ELFUTILS +FIDO2 +IDN2 -IDN +IPTC +KMOD +LIBCRYPTSETUP +LIBFDISK +PCRE2 -PWQUALITY +P11KIT +QRENCODE +TPM2 +BZIP2 +LZ4 +XZ +ZLIB +ZSTD -BPF_FRAMEWORK -XKBCOMMON +UTMP +SYSVINIT default-hierarchy=unified
Looking to retrieve just the version number?
# systemctl --version | awk '{if($1=="systemd" && $2~"^[0-9]"){print $2}}' | head -n 1
252
The command above queries the version and shows it if the first column contains the word ‘systemd’ and the second column starts with a number. Only the first one line of output is returned, in case this output changes over time.
Stored in file: systemd.pc
Systemd also stores information in the file /usr/share/pkgconfig/systemd.pc . It includes:
- Paths
- User ID ranges
- Systemd version
# cat /usr/share/pkgconfig/systemd.pc
# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
#
# This file is part of systemd.
#
# systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
# under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
# Names with prefixes are preferred, and the run-together names should be
# considered deprecated (though there is no plan to remove them). New names
# shall have underscores.
prefix=/usr
root_prefix=
rootprefix=${root_prefix}
sysconf_dir=/etc
sysconfdir=${sysconf_dir}
systemd_util_dir=${root_prefix}/lib/systemd
systemdutildir=${systemd_util_dir}
systemd_system_unit_dir=${rootprefix}/lib/systemd/system
systemdsystemunitdir=${systemd_system_unit_dir}
systemd_system_preset_dir=${rootprefix}/lib/systemd/system-preset
systemdsystempresetdir=${systemd_system_preset_dir}
systemd_user_unit_dir=${prefix}/lib/systemd/user
systemduserunitdir=${systemd_user_unit_dir}
systemd_user_preset_dir=${prefix}/lib/systemd/user-preset
systemduserpresetdir=${systemd_user_preset_dir}
systemd_system_conf_dir=${sysconfdir}/systemd/system
systemdsystemconfdir=${systemd_system_conf_dir}
systemd_user_conf_dir=${sysconfdir}/systemd/user
systemduserconfdir=${systemd_user_conf_dir}
systemd_system_unit_path=${systemd_system_conf_dir}:/etc/systemd/system:/run/systemd/system:/usr/local/lib/systemd/system:${systemd_system_unit_dir}:/usr/lib/systemd/system:/lib/systemd/system
systemdsystemunitpath=${systemd_system_unit_path}
systemd_user_unit_path=${systemd_user_conf_dir}:/etc/systemd/user:/run/systemd/user:/usr/local/lib/systemd/user:/usr/local/share/systemd/user:${systemd_user_unit_dir}:/usr/lib/systemd/user:/usr/share/systemd/user
systemduserunitpath=${systemd_user_unit_path}
systemd_system_generator_dir=${root_prefix}/lib/systemd/system-generators
systemdsystemgeneratordir=${systemd_system_generator_dir}
systemd_user_generator_dir=${prefix}/lib/systemd/user-generators
systemdusergeneratordir=${systemd_user_generator_dir}
systemd_system_generator_path=/run/systemd/system-generators:/etc/systemd/system-generators:/usr/local/lib/systemd/system-generators:${systemd_system_generator_dir}
systemdsystemgeneratorpath=${systemd_system_generator_path}
systemd_user_generator_path=/run/systemd/user-generators:/etc/systemd/user-generators:/usr/local/lib/systemd/user-generators:${systemd_user_generator_dir}
systemdusergeneratorpath=${systemd_user_generator_path}
systemd_sleep_dir=${root_prefix}/lib/systemd/system-sleep
systemdsleepdir=${systemd_sleep_dir}
systemd_shutdown_dir=${root_prefix}/lib/systemd/system-shutdown
systemdshutdowndir=${systemd_shutdown_dir}
tmpfiles_dir=${prefix}/lib/tmpfiles.d
tmpfilesdir=${tmpfiles_dir}
user_tmpfiles_dir=${prefix}/share/user-tmpfiles.d
sysusers_dir=${prefix}/lib/sysusers.d
sysusersdir=${sysusers_dir}
sysctl_dir=${prefix}/lib/sysctl.d
sysctldir=${sysctl_dir}
binfmt_dir=${prefix}/lib/binfmt.d
binfmtdir=${binfmt_dir}
modules_load_dir=${prefix}/lib/modules-load.d
modulesloaddir=${modules_load_dir}
catalog_dir=${prefix}/lib/systemd/catalog
catalogdir=${catalog_dir}
system_uid_max=999
systemuidmax=${system_uid_max}
system_gid_max=999
systemgidmax=${system_gid_max}
dynamic_uid_min=61184
dynamicuidmin=${dynamic_uid_min}
dynamic_uid_max=65519
dynamicuidmax=${dynamic_uid_max}
container_uid_base_min=524288
containeruidbasemin=${container_uid_base_min}
container_uid_base_max=1878982656
containeruidbasemax=${container_uid_base_max}
Name: systemd
Description: systemd System and Service Manager
URL: https://systemd.io/
Version: 252
Using D-Bus
Another option is using D-Bus and make a query on the message bus to retrieve information about systemd. This can be done using the busctl command.
#busctl get-property org.freedesktop.systemd1 /org/freedesktop/systemd1 org.freedesktop.systemd1.Manager Version
s "252.31-1~deb12u1"
To query other properties, use the introspect command on the related message bus.
busctl introspect org.freedesktop.systemd1 /org/freedesktop/systemd1
It will show all methods, properties, and signals for the relevant nodes.
