How get systemd status in json format?

Question

I want to get service status details (Loaded, enabled, active, running, since, Main PID) in machine readable form and I know that systemd tools have --output=json option, but if I do:

 systemctl status servicename --output=json --plain

I see something like:

● snapd.service - Snappy daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/snapd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2018-04-16 11:20:07 MSK; 4h 45min ago
 Main PID: 738 (snapd)
    Tasks: 10 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/snapd.service
           └─738 /usr/lib/snapd/snapd

{ "__CURSOR" : "s=461ecb6a4b814913acd57572cd1e1c82;...

Journal records are in JSON. But how to get the service status in JSON if it's possible?

Take a look https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/83 – Federico Sierra Apr 16 '18 at 14:12 — Federico Sierra, Apr 16 '18 at 14:12

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 11 '19 at 16:09

10

Simple way to getting service status in machine readable form:

systemctl show servicename --no-page

This command outputs data in key=value format:

Type=notify
Restart=always
NotifyAccess=main
...

If JSON format is required, you can use the following simple Python script (Python 2 and 3 compatible) get_service_info.py:

import os, sys, subprocess, json
key_value = subprocess.check_output(["systemctl", "show", sys.argv[1]], universal_newlines=True).split('\n')
json_dict = {}
for entry in key_value:
    kv = entry.split("=", 1)
    if len(kv) == 2:
        json_dict[kv[0]] = kv[1]
json.dump(json_dict, sys.stdout)

Usage:

get_service_info.py servicename

edited Oct 11 '19 at 16:09

Patrick Mevzek

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answered Apr 19 '18 at 10:11

Stanislav Ivanov

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the "keys" for OPs question are `ActiveState`, `UnitFileState`, `ExecMainStartTimestamp`,`LoadState` `ExecMainPID` so grep those then can easily get the info without need for json. If more are need well then json. – DKebler Mar 09 '19 at 17:48
Still want that json? for javascript there is already an xdg parser which is what the `--no-page` outputs. see https://www.npmjs.com/package/xdg-parse – DKebler Mar 09 '19 at 17:54
For xdg-parse package to work here you need to prepend `'[State]\n'` first as that parser expects sections. Then the you'll get back a `State:` prop with all keys below. `xdgparse('[State]\n'+str).State` – DKebler Mar 09 '19 at 19:43

score 9 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 14 '18 at 06:47

You can use jq for this, too:

systemctl show --no-page iptables \
    | jq --slurp --raw-input \
        'split("\n")
        | map(select(. != "") 
        | split("=") 
        | {"key": .[0], "value": (.[1:] | join("="))})
        | from_entries'

produces:

{
  "Type": "oneshot",
  "Restart": "no",
  "NotifyAccess": "none",
  "ExecStart": "{ path=/usr/libexec/iptables/iptables.init ; argv[]=/usr/libexec/iptables/iptables.init start ; ignore_errors=no ; start_time=[n/a] ; stop_time=[n/a] ; pid=0 ; code=(null) ; status=0/0 }",
  [... like 60 more entries ...],
  "CollectMode": "inactive"
}

Decode of jq command:

--slurp - read the whole thing as a really big string
--raw-input - p.s. it's not json input
split("\n") - break the input into an array of lines
map( ... )  - perform some transformation on each array element
select(. != "") - skip blank lines
split("=") - split the current line into array elements at each "="
(.[1:] | join("=")) - avoid mangling values with equal signs

(be warned: this will truncate values if the value itself contains an equals sign. This can probably be worked around but for this purpose seems fine)

{"key": .[0], "value": .[1]}  - build an key/value pair object

(at this point map returns an array of key/value objects)

from_entries - turn an array of "key"/"value" objects into an object

OK, I maybe got a little nerd sniped. To *not* mangle values that contain equals signs, replace `.[1]` with `(.[1:] | join("="))` which will grab the remainder of the array and staple it back together using equals signs. — Daryl Banttari, Jun 19 '18 at 22:10
That's a great addition to your answer, I've updated it accordingly. — Jay Taylor, Sep 13 '18 at 18:38

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 16 '18 at 14:44

2

The recommendation by the developers is to use the dbus API for programmatic access to service status instead. If you really need JSON, you could adapt the DBUS API to produce the JSON you need.

See the Github issue --output json doesn't produce json output for discussion among the developers about why the DBUS API is recommended over JSON output.

answered Apr 16 '18 at 14:44

Mark Stosberg

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for nodejs folks https://www.npmjs.com/package/dbus-native. Would honestly be excellent way to monitor processes on a machine. I'll get on this in my spare time. – DKebler Mar 09 '19 at 17:57

How get systemd status in json format?

3 Answers3