Replace systemctl status with systemctl is-active
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bastelfreak
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a team,
SimonHoenscheid,
alexjfisher,
deric,
ekohl and
smortex
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bastelfreak
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Dec 13, 2025
`systemctl status $service` will output a bunch of text. Some of this
text, depending on the locale, contains unicode characters:
```
● postgresql.service - PostgreSQL RDBMS
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/postgresql.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (exited) since Wed 2025-09-24 21:40:00 UTC; 2 months 18 days ago
Main PID: 1028 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
CPU: 3ms
Notice: journal has been rotated since unit was started, output may be incomplete.
```
`●` is unicode. Puppet will fail with:
```
Error: /Stage[main]/Postgresql::Server::Reload/Postgresql::Server::Instance::Reload[main]/Exec[postgresql_reload_main]: Failed to call refresh: invalid byte sequence in US-ASCII
Error: /Stage[main]/Postgresql::Server::Reload/Postgresql::Server::Instance::Reload[main]/Exec[postgresql_reload_main]: invalid byte sequence in US-ASCII
```
`systemctl` will print `*` if it's executed with `LC_ALL=C`, but we
cannot assume that this locale is always used.
The correct command to check if a service is up and running is
`is-active`, not `status`. `status` is for humans only. the systemd
provider for the service type also uses `is-active`. See
https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/blob/main/lib/puppet/provider/service/systemd.rb#L201-L203
Since we only care about the exit code, we can even add `--quiet`. See
https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemctl.html#is-active%20PATTERN%E2%80%A6
the puppetlabs/postgresql CI still tests on Puppet 7. yumrepo_core v3.0.0 doesn't support it anymore.
bastelfreak
added a commit
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that referenced
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Replace systemctl
statuswith systemctlis-activesystemctl status $servicewill output a bunch of text. Some of this text, depending on the locale, contains unicode characters:●is unicode. Puppet will fail with:systemctlwill print*if it's executed withLC_ALL=C, but we cannot assume that this locale is always used.The correct command to check if a service is up and running is
is-active, notstatus.statusis for humans only. the systemd provider for the service type also usesis-active. See https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/blob/main/lib/puppet/provider/service/systemd.rb#L201-L203Since we only care about the exit code, we can even add
--quiet. See https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemctl.html#is-active%20PATTERN%E2%80%A6Summary
Ensure the service detection works with all locales.
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