From b3d99e23089bd65e1f8c445127a0963f1008f8c0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christoph Anton Mitterer Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2025 05:30:12 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] man: improve BindsTo= documentation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Make “effect” plural to indicate that BindsTo= also includes the other effects of Requires= (like starting the listed units). The documentation of Requires= already describes that the configuring unit is stopped/restarted if any of the list units is explicitly stopped/restarted. This made the previous wording “in addition to the effect of Requires, it declares that if the unit bound to is stopped, this unit will be stopped too.” ambiguous – this is no in addition, Requires= already does that, at least for some (namely the explicit) cases. Resolve this by making it clear what the actual difference to Requires= is and further mention that this also includes failed units. Signed-off-by: Christoph Anton Mitterer --- man/systemd.unit.xml | 7 ++++--- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/man/systemd.unit.xml b/man/systemd.unit.xml index 3d4707cb2c..a2969739e8 100644 --- a/man/systemd.unit.xml +++ b/man/systemd.unit.xml @@ -721,9 +721,10 @@ BindsTo= Configures requirement dependencies, very similar in style to - Requires=. However, this dependency type is stronger: in addition to the effect of - Requires= it declares that if the unit bound to is stopped, this unit will be stopped - too. This means a unit bound to another unit that suddenly enters inactive state will be stopped too. + Requires=. However, this dependency type is stronger: in addition to the effects of + Requires=, which already stops (or restarts) the configuring unit when a listed unit is + explicitly stopped (or restared), it also does so when a listed unit stops unexpectedly (which includes when it + fails). Units can suddenly, unexpectedly enter inactive state for different reasons: the main process of a service unit might terminate on its own choice, the backing device of a device unit might be unplugged or the mount point of a mount unit might be unmounted without involvement of the system and service manager.