Debug Linux With Systemctl

This is a short trip where I have debugged some issues with systemctl on my Arch.

Issues

My system was not stable as it used to be. It will not proper shutdown/suspend at random times. I have to force shutdown by holding the power button. Eventually I think about checking the systemctl.

Debug flow

Listing global system status

systemctl status
# State: degraded

Listing failed units

systemctl list-units --state=failed

In my case I see open-fprintd-resume.service, open-fprintd-suspend.service and open-fprintd.service was failed.

This reminds me that my system was originally installed on my Laptop with fingerprint reader. But later I have migrated to Desktop with the same SSD.

Further investigation on the failed units

journalctl -xeu open-fprintd-resume.service

• -xe: These are options passed to the journalctl command:

  • -x or --catalog: This option enables the extended output format, which provides additional information such as human-readable descriptions of log fields.
  • -e or --pager-end: This option tells journalctl to start at the end of the logs and display the most recent entries first. It’s useful for quickly viewing the latest log entries and any recent errors or warnings.

• -u open-fprintd-resume.service: This specifies the unit whose logs you want to view. In this case, open-fprintd-resume.service is the name of the systemd service unit. By specifying this unit, journalctl will only display logs related to this particular service.

Resolve depends on your cases. In my case I have removed python-validity package as it was causing the issue.

yay -Rs python-validity

Finally reset the failed units

systemctl reset-failed

Recheck the status

systemctl status
# State: running