The daemon to launch and its options should be specified after options intended for systemd-activate.

If the --inetd option is given, the socket file descriptor will be used as the standard input and output of the launched process. Otherwise, standard input and output will be inherited, and sockets will be passed through file descriptors 3 and higher. Sockets passed through $LISTEN_FDS to systemd-activate will be passed through to the daemon, in the original positions. Other sockets specified with --listen= will use consecutive descriptors. By default, systemd-activate listens on a stream socket, use --datagram and --seqpacket to listen on datagram or sequential packet sockets instead (see below).

OPTIONS

-l address, --listen=address

Listen on this address. Takes a string like "2000" or "127.0.0.1:2001".

-a, --accept

Launch an instance of the service binary for each connection and pass the connection socket.

-d, --datagram

Listen on a datagram socket (SOCK_DGRAM), instead of a stream socket (SOCK_STREAM). May not be combined with --seqpacket.

--seqpacket

Listen on a sequential packet socket (SOCK_SEQPACKET), instead of a stream socket (SOCK_STREAM). May not be combined with --datagram.

--inetd

Use the inetd protocol for passing file descriptors, i.e. as standard input and standard output, instead of the new-style protocol for passing file descriptors using $LISTEN_FDS (see above).

-E VAR[=VALUE], --setenv=VAR[=VALUE]

Add this variable to the environment of the launched process. If VAR is followed by "=", assume that it is a variable-value pair. Otherwise, obtain the value from the environment of systemd-activate itself.

--fdname=NAME

Specify a name for the activation file descriptors. This is equivalent to setting FileDescriptorName= in socket unit files, and enables use of sd_listen_fds_with_names(3).

-h, --help

Print a short help text and exit.

--version

Print a short version string and exit.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

$LISTEN_FDS, $LISTEN_PID, $LISTEN_FDNAMES

See sd_listen_fds(3).

$SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET, $SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL, $SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR, $SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION

Same as in systemd(1).

EXAMPLES

Example 1. Run an echo server on port 2000

$ /lib/systemd/systemd-activate -l 2000 --inetd -a cat

Example 2. Run a socket-activated instance of systemd-journal-gatewayd(8)

$ /lib/systemd/systemd-activate -l 19531 /lib/systemd/systemd-journal-gatewayd

SEE ALSO

systemd(1), systemd.socket(5), systemd.service(5), sd_listen_fds(3), sd_listen_fds_with_names(3), cat(1)