@@ -876,6 +876,56 @@ kobject-uevent 1 systemd-udevd-kernel.socket systemd-udevd.service
876876 a similar filter for messages and might be more
877877 convenient.
878878 </para >
879+
880+ <para >Systemd implicitly loads units as necessary, so just running the <command >status</command > will
881+ attempt to load a file. The command is thus not useful for determining if something was already loaded or
882+ not. The units may possibly also be quickly unloaded after the operation is completed if there's no reason
883+ to keep it in memory thereafter.
884+ </para >
885+
886+ <example >
887+ <title >Example output from systemctl status </title >
888+
889+ <programlisting >$ systemctl status bluetooth
890+ ● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
891+ Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
892+ Active: active (running) since Wed 2017-01-04 13:54:04 EST; 1 weeks 0 days ago
893+ Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
894+ Main PID: 930 (bluetoothd)
895+ Status: "Running"
896+ Tasks: 1
897+ Memory: 648.0K
898+ CPU: 435ms
899+ CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
900+ └─930 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd
901+
902+ Jan 12 10:46:45 example.com bluetoothd[8900]: Not enough free handles to register service
903+ Jan 12 10:46:45 example.com.com bluetoothd[8900]: Current Time Service could not be registered
904+ Jan 12 10:46:45 example.com.com bluetoothd[8900]: gatt-time-server: Input/output error (5)
905+ </programlisting >
906+
907+ <para >The dot ("●") uses color on supported terminals to summarize the unit state at a glance. White
908+ indicates an <literal >inactive</literal > or <literal >deactivating</literal > state. Red indicates a
909+ <literal >failed</literal > or <literal >error</literal > state and green indicates an
910+ <literal >active</literal >, <literal >reloading</literal > or <literal >activating</literal > state.
911+ </para >
912+
913+ <para >The "Loaded:" line in the output will show <literal >loaded</literal > if the unit has been loaded into
914+ memory. Other possible values for "Loaded:" include: <literal >error</literal > if there was a problem
915+ loading it, <literal >not-found</literal >, and <literal >masked</literal >. Along with showing the path to
916+ the unit file, this line will also show the enablement state. Enabled commands start at boot. See the
917+ full table of possible enablement states — including the definition of <literal >masked</literal > — in the
918+ documentation for the <command >is-enabled</command > command.
919+ </para >
920+
921+ <para >The "Active:" line shows active state. The value is usually <literal >active</literal > or
922+ <literal >inactive</literal >. Active could mean started, bound, plugged in, etc depending on the unit type.
923+ The unit could also be in process of changing states, reporting a state of <literal >activating</literal > or
924+ <literal >deactivating</literal >. A special <literal >failed</literal > state is entered when the service
925+ failed in some way, such as a crash, exiting with an error code or timing out. If the failed state is
926+ entered the cause will be logged for later reference.</para >
927+ </example >
928+
879929 </listitem >
880930 </varlistentry >
881931 <varlistentry >
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