bug#63869: [shepherd] `guix system reconfigure` forgets `herd disable mysrv`

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Maxim & Attila,

Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com> skribis:

> Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:

[...]

>>>> When a service is stopped at the time of reconfigure, it is immediately
>>>> replaced and then started.
>>>>
>>>> Replacing works by unregistering the old instance from the registry and
>>>> registering a new one.  As a side effect, you end up with an instance
>>>> that’s enabled (see ‘service-registry’ in (shepherd services)).
>>>>
>>>> I never thought it could be a problem.  WDYT?
>>>
>>> I think it probably goes against users' expectation (i.e., systemd) that
>>> a disabled service stays disabled unless manually re-enabled (I think
>>> that's the way it is for systemd, even when the system is upgraded?).
>>
>> Does systemd have a notion of enabled/disabled?
>
> Yes!  'systemctl disable <service>' [0].  It does stick around until the
> user changes it, I can confirm the behavior which I've recently seen on
> a Debian system upgrade (the service remained disabled and the updater
> warned it wouldn't be restarted because of that).
>
> [0]  
> https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemctl.html#disable%20UNIT%E2%80%A6
>
>> I’m fine either way.  We can also change it such that replacing a
>> disabled service does not re-enable it; that’s probably more logical.
>
> I guess sticking to the established convention set by systemd would
> cause the least friction down the road.  If we agree on this, we should
> reopen this bug (and eventually fix it :-)).

Agreed, fixed in Shepherd commit
52db31e5b061440cd110da4848ab230ce09f365a.

Thanks!

Ludo’.