[viraptor]

Have you actually tried to dive into the part you're interested in? Where did you find the complexity? I've done it a few times for different components and found them pretty well separated and the source pretty straightforward. I have other issues with them, but complexity/obscurity of the is was not one of them.

[Aeolun]

Looking at using systemd to just run a binary automatically on boot (which some smart person on HN told me was the easiest way). Just looking at the systemd landing page overwhelms me.

Boot Loader Interface, Discoverable Partitions Specification, etc.

I’m sure the implementation details are very interesting.

But where is the “Configure and Start a Service” option? Which is arguably the most important.

[md8z]

The man pages are the reference manual. You might want to search for "systemd service tutorial" or something like that, there's a lot of blogs that explain how to make a simple service.

[viraptor]

Their frontpage sucks, but that's not related to the code really :)

For a quick intro to new services, see the examples here: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.ser... (they should cover most basic needs) then read above for the details on the parameters. You stick the file in /etc/systemd/system/your_thing.service and enable/start it.

[markstos]

I'm not sure why this comment was downvoted. I've read all the systemd documentation and this comment is spot on. System is lacking good documentation along the lines of "the least you need to know to setup and manage a service".

No, it's not as easy as "man systemd.service".

What's probably most useful in that documentation is the "hello world" example, which is buried at the bottom of the documentation. Also, key details are elsewhere, in "man systemd.exec" and "man systemd.unit".

The systemd docs a great comprehensive reference, but the man pages are poor introductory documentation.

Some useful tips that are hard to find:

  * man systemd.directives documents every directory and will tell you which man page as the full documentation for it.
  * man systemd.index lists every man page related to systemd.