ServiceMaster 1.7.9

ServiceMaster is a powerful terminal-based tool for managing Systemd units on Linux systems. It provides an intuitive interface for viewing and controlling system and user units, making it easier to manage your units without leaving the command line.

Features

• View all Systemd units or filter by type (services, devices, sockets, etc.)
• Start, stop, restart, enable, disable, mask, and unmask units
• View detailed status information for each unit
• Switch between system and user units
• User-friendly ncurses interface with color-coded information
• Keyboard shortcuts for quick navigation and control
• DBus event loop: Reacts immediately to external changes to units
• Switch between colorschemes, edit or add colorschemes
• Easy configuration with TOML file
• Search for units by name
• Sort units by different columns (unit name, state, active, sub, description)

Requirements

• Linux system with Systemd
• ncurses library
• Systemd development libraries

Usage

After launching ServiceMaster, you can use the following controls:

• Arrow keys (hljk), page up/down: Navigate through the list of units
• Space: Toggle between system and user units
• Enter: Show detailed status of the selected unit
• F1-F8: Perform actions (start, stop, restart, etc.) on the selected unit
• a-z: Quick filter units by type
• q or ESC: Quit the application
• +,-: Switch between colorschemes
• f: Search for units by name
• Tab: Select column header, Return: Sort by selected column
• F12 or ?: Display help / usage message

CLI Options

• -v: Display the version information and exit
• -w: Do not show the welcome message
• -h: Display help / usage message and exit
• -c: Set the colorscheme. Names with a space must be enclosed in quotes!
• -l: List all available colorschemes
• -p: Print configuration file (with colorschemes)
• -e: Edit the configuration file

Security Note

For security reasons, only root can manipulate system units, and only user units can be manipulated when running as a regular user.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

The TOML library is also licensed under the MIT License. See the toml.h file for details.

Author

Lennart Martens

Version

1.7.9 (2025)

Building & Install

Dependencies

Archlinux

pacman -S cmake meson ncurses systemd-libs

Ubuntu/Debian

apt install cmake meson libncurses5-dev libsystemd-dev

Building

git clone https://github.com/Lennart1978/servicemaster.git

cd servicemaster/

mkdir builddir

meson setup builddir --buildtype=release --prefix=/usr/local

meson compile -C builddir

If you want to update from a very old version (< 1.6.0), remove the old version first

 sudo rm /usr/bin/servicemaster && sudo rm /usr/share/man/man1/servicemaster.1

Install

meson install -C builddir

' --prefix=/usr/local' as 'meson setup' option will install to the following locations:

• The man page will be installed to /usr/local/share/man/man1/servicemaster.1

• The binary will be installed to /usr/local/bin/servicemaster

• The configuration file will be installed to /etc/servicemaster/servicemaster.toml

Uninstall (if you didn't change the prefix)

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/servicemaster && sudo rm /usr/local/share/man/man1/servicemaster.1 && sudo rm /etc/servicemaster/servicemaster.toml

For Archlinux users: There is 'servicemaster-git' (recommended) and 'servicemaster-bin' in the AUR

The configuration

The configuration file is located at /etc/servicemaster/servicemaster.toml

You can edit it with:

servicemaster -e

This will open the TOML config file with your standard editor ($EDITOR)

Print the configuration file with:

servicemaster -p

This will just print the config file to stdout, including the size of the file

Colorschemes

You can add your own colorschemes to the configuration file or change the existing ones.

List all available colorschemes with:

servicemaster -l

Switch between colorschemes using the '+' and '-' keys.

Screenshots with 10 different colorschemes (Kitty terminal, Nerd Fonts)

Schrill: Nord: Solarized Dark: Dracula: Monokai: Gruvbox Dark: One Dark: Monochrome: Solarized Light: Material:

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