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I am trying to setup a daemon width systemd on Debian.

systemd was already a part of the distro.. Have just added a new unit file my-daemon.service under /etc/systemd/system/ but after reboot I get this error no matter what I do. It worked before reboot

~ # systemctl daemon-reload
Failed to get D-Bus connection: Unknown error -1

~ # systemctl list-units
Failed to get D-Bus connection: Unknown error -1

Have also tried to delete the unit file my-daemon.service and rebooted the system.. But still get the same error

update

# dpkg -l | grep -i dbus
ii  at-spi2-core                           2.14.0-1                             amd64        Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (dbus core)
ii  dbus                                   1.8.22-0+deb8u1                      amd64        simple interprocess messaging system (daemon and utilities)
ii  dbus-x11                               1.8.20-0+deb8u1                      amd64        simple interprocess messaging system (X11 deps)
ii  libdbus-1-3:amd64                      1.8.20-0+deb8u1                      amd64        simple interprocess messaging system (library)
ii  libdbus-glib-1-2:amd64                 0.102-1                              amd64        simple interprocess messaging system (GLib-based shared library)
ii  libdbusmenu-glib4:amd64                12.10.2-1                            amd64        library for passing menus over DBus
ii  libdbusmenu-gtk4:amd64                 12.10.2-1                            amd64        library for passing menus over DBus - GTK+ version
ii  libnet-dbus-perl                       1.0.0-2+b2                           amd64        Perl extension for the DBus bindings
ii  libnih-dbus1                           1.0.3-4.3                            amd64        NIH D-Bus Bindings Library
ii  libqt4-dbus:amd64                      4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1 amd64        Qt 4 D-Bus module
ii  libqt5dbus5:amd64                      5.3.2+dfsg-4+deb8u1                  amd64        Qt 5 D-Bus module
ii  libqtdbus4:amd64                       4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1 amd64        Qt 4 D-Bus module library
ii  qdbus                                  4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1 amd64        Qt 4 D-Bus tool

update 2

# cd /run/dbus && ls -la
total 4
drwxr-xr-x  2 messagebus messagebus  80 Feb  2 11:08 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root       root       740 Feb  6 19:33 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root       root         5 Feb  2 11:08 pid
srwxrwxrwx  1 root       root         0 Feb  2 11:08 system_bus_socket


# cat /etc/fstab
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/md/0 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/md/1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md/2 / ext4 defaults 0 0
6
  • what's the output of sudo dpkg -l | grep -i dbus?
    – 13dimitar
    Feb 3, 2017 at 9:46
  • updated with output
    – clarkk
    Feb 3, 2017 at 12:16
  • But it have worked.. But after a reboot it suddently didnt work anymore.. Havent changed any configuration file.. just the my-daemon.service file
    – clarkk
    Feb 3, 2017 at 12:17
  • Have you tried reinstalling dbus?
    – 13dimitar
    Feb 3, 2017 at 13:12
  • Could you show result of : cd /run/dbus && ls -la and content of /etc/fstab
    – Alex
    Feb 5, 2017 at 8:06

2 Answers 2

15
+25

Resolution

Install systemd-sysv:

apt install systemd-sysv

Explanation

Failed to get D-Bus connection: Unknown error -1 means that systemd is not running.

Here is my LMDE 2 installation, which is a lot like Debian 8:

lmde ~ # systemctl status ssh.service
Failed to get D-Bus connection: Unknown error -1

On your system, /sbin/init probably isn't a symlink pointing to /lib/systemd/systemd. Here's what it looks like on LMDE 2:

lmde ~ # file /sbin/init
/sbin/init: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, for GNU/Linux 2.6.32, BuildID[sha1]=416c01d5df07b3a795694ff3360339b509daaf86, stripped

Here's what it looks like on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which runs systemd by default:

root@node51 [~]# file /sbin/init
/sbin/init: symbolic link to /lib/systemd/systemd

To resolve this, replace the package sysvinit-core with systemd-sysv:

lmde ~ # apt install systemd-sysv
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  sysvinit-core
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  systemd-sysv
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1 to remove and 533 not upgraded.
Need to get 32.7 kB of archives.
After this operation, 177 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 http://packages.linuxmint.com/ betsy/upstream systemd-sysv amd64 215+12+betsy [32.7 kB]
Fetched 32.7 kB in 0s (81.1 kB/s)
dpkg: sysvinit-core: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you requested:
 init depends on systemd-sysv | sysvinit-core | upstart; however:
  Package systemd-sysv is not installed.
  Package sysvinit-core is to be removed.
  Package upstart is not installed.

(Reading database ... 159705 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing sysvinit-core (2.88dsf-58) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Selecting previously unselected package systemd-sysv.
(Reading database ... 159681 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../systemd-sysv_215+12+betsy_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking systemd-sysv (215+12+betsy) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Setting up systemd-sysv (215+12+betsy) ...

Now reboot with reboot.

Once the system has rebooted, you'll be running systemd instead of SysV:

lmde ~ # file /sbin/init
/sbin/init: symbolic link to /lib/systemd/systemd

lmde ~ # systemctl status ssh.service
● ssh.service - OpenBSD Secure Shell server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/ssh.service; enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2017-02-08 06:58:27 CST; 1min 10s ago
 Main PID: 598 (sshd)
   CGroup: /system.slice/ssh.service
           └─598 /usr/sbin/sshd -D

Feb 08 06:58:27 lmde sshd[598]: Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Feb 08 06:58:27 lmde sshd[598]: Server listening on :: port 22.
Feb 08 06:58:29 lmde sshd[598]: Received SIGHUP; restarting.
Feb 08 06:58:29 lmde sshd[598]: Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Feb 08 06:58:29 lmde sshd[598]: Server listening on :: port 22.
Feb 08 06:58:44 lmde sshd[1614]: Accepted password for root from 10.0.0.2 port 59703 ssh2
Feb 08 06:58:44 lmde sshd[1614]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)

Possible Cause?

You indicated that systemd on your Debian installation worked in the past. It is possible that a package or its dependencies required SysVinit instead of systemd and erased or disabled systemd.

Be on the lookout for broken dependencies if this is the case.


Additional Resources

Documentation

Description of sysvinit-core

lmde ~ # apt show sysvinit-core
Package: sysvinit-core
State: not installed
Version: 2.88dsf-59
Priority: extra
Section: admin
Maintainer: Debian sysvinit maintainers <[email protected]>
Architecture: amd64
Uncompressed Size: 199 k
Depends: initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3), sysv-rc | file-rc, sysvinit-utils (>=
         2.86.ds1-66), libc6 (>= 2.15), libselinux1 (>= 1.32), libsepol1 (>=
         1.14), debconf (>= 0.5) | debconf-2.0, debianutils (>= 4)
Conflicts: systemd-sysv, systemd-sysv, upstart, upstart, sysvinit-core
Replaces: systemd-sysv, systemd-sysv, sysvinit (< 2.88dsf-44~), sysvinit (<
          2.88dsf-44~), upstart, upstart
Description: System-V-like init utilities
 This package contains programs required for booting a Debian system and doing
 basic process management.

 The most important program in the package is /sbin/init. It is the first
 process started on boot and continues to run as process number 1 until the
 system halts. All other processes are descended from it.
Homepage: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/sysvinit

Description of systemd-sysv

lmde ~ # apt show systemd-sysv
Package: systemd-sysv
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 215+12+betsy
Priority: extra
Section: admin
Maintainer: Debian systemd Maintainers <[email protected]>
Architecture: amd64
Uncompressed Size: 77.8 k
Depends: systemd (= 215+12+betsy)
PreDepends: systemd
Conflicts: sysvinit-core, sysvinit-core, upstart, upstart, systemd-sysv
Replaces: sysvinit (< 2.88dsf-44~), sysvinit (< 2.88dsf-44~), sysvinit-core,
          sysvinit-core, upstart, upstart
Description: system and service manager - SysV links
 systemd is a replacement for sysvinit.  It is dependency-based and able to read
 the LSB init script headers in addition to parsing rcN.d links as hints.

 It also provides process supervision using cgroups and the ability to not only
 depend on other init script being started, but also availability of a given
 mount point or dbus service.

 This package provides the manual pages and links needed for systemd to replace
 sysvinit. Installing systemd-sysv will overwrite /sbin/init with a link to
 systemd.
Homepage: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd
3
  • See also Debian bug #763299.
    – JdeBP
    Jul 22, 2017 at 12:49
  • if that aint working, see if its systemd-sysv is pinned somewheren in /etc/apt/.
    – sjas
    Apr 4, 2018 at 11:46
  • To avoid removing upstart, I just used service memcached start and it worked. Jul 29, 2020 at 13:09
0

verify prerequisites

A (at least partly) populated /dev is required. Depending on your setup (e.g. on embedded systems), check that the Linux kernel config options CONFIG_DEVTMPFS and CONFIG_DEVTMPFS_MOUNT are set. Also support for cgroups and fanotify is recommended for a flawless operation, so check that the Linux kernel config options CONFIG_CGROUPS and CONFIG_FANOTIFY are set.

The message "Failed to get D-Bus connection: No connection to service manager." during various systemctl operations is an indicator that these are missing.

Article source: https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/Debugging/

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