systemd.kill — Process killing procedure configuration
service.servicesocket.socketmount.mountswap.swapscope.scope
Unit configuration files for services, sockets, mount points, swap devices and scopes share a subset of configuration options which define the killing procedure of processes belonging to the unit.
This man page lists the configuration options shared by these five unit types. See systemd.unit(5) for the common options shared by all unit configuration files, and systemd.service(5), systemd.socket(5), systemd.swap(5), systemd.mount(5) and systemd.scope(5) for more information on the configuration file options specific to each unit type.
The kill procedure configuration options are configured in the [Service], [Socket], [Mount] or [Swap] section, depending on the unit type.
KillMode=¶Specifies how processes of this unit shall be killed. One of
control-group, mixed, process,
none.
If set to control-group, all remaining processes in the control group of this
unit will be killed on unit stop (for services: after the stop command is executed, as configured
with ExecStop=). If set to mixed, the
SIGTERM signal (see below) is sent to the main process while the subsequent
SIGKILL signal (see below) is sent to all remaining processes of the unit's
control group. If set to process, only the main process itself is killed (not
recommended!). If set to none, no process is killed (strongly recommended
against!). In this case, only the stop command will be executed on unit stop, but no process will be
killed otherwise. Processes remaining alive after stop are left in their control group and the
control group continues to exist after stop unless empty.
Note that it is not recommended to set KillMode= to
process or even none, as this allows processes to escape
the service manager's lifecycle and resource management, and to remain running even while their
service is considered stopped and is assumed to not consume any resources.
Processes will first be terminated via SIGTERM (unless the signal to send
is changed via KillSignal= or RestartKillSignal=). Optionally,
this is immediately followed by a SIGHUP (if enabled with
SendSIGHUP=). If processes still remain after:
the main process of a unit has exited (applies to KillMode=:
mixed)
the delay configured via the TimeoutStopSec= has passed
(applies to KillMode=: control-group, mixed,
process)
the termination request is repeated with the SIGKILL signal or the signal specified via
FinalKillSignal= (unless this is disabled via the SendSIGKILL=
option). See kill(2)
for more information.
Defaults to control-group.
KillSignal=¶Specifies which signal to use when stopping a service. This controls the signal that
is sent as first step of shutting down a unit (see above), and is usually followed by
SIGKILL (see above and below). For a list of valid signals, see
signal(7).
Defaults to SIGTERM.
Note that, right after sending the signal specified in this setting, systemd will always send
SIGCONT, to ensure that even suspended tasks can be terminated cleanly.
RestartKillSignal=¶Specifies which signal to use when restarting a service. The same as
KillSignal= described above, with the exception that this setting is used in a
restart job. Not set by default, and the value of KillSignal= is used.
SendSIGHUP=¶Specifies whether to send
SIGHUP to remaining processes immediately
after sending the signal configured with
KillSignal=. This is useful to indicate to
shells and shell-like programs that their connection has been
severed. Takes a boolean value. Defaults to "no".
SendSIGKILL=¶Specifies whether to send
SIGKILL (or the signal specified by
FinalKillSignal=) to remaining processes
after a timeout, if the normal shutdown procedure left
processes of the service around. When disabled, a
KillMode= of control-group
or mixed service will not restart if
processes from prior services exist within the control group.
Takes a boolean value. Defaults to "yes".
FinalKillSignal=¶Specifies which signal to send to remaining
processes after a timeout if SendSIGKILL=
is enabled. The signal configured here should be one that is
not typically caught and processed by services (SIGTERM
is not suitable). Developers can find it useful to use this to
generate a coredump to troubleshoot why a service did not
terminate upon receiving the initial SIGTERM
signal. This can be achieved by configuring LimitCORE=
and setting FinalKillSignal= to either
SIGQUIT or SIGABRT.
Defaults to SIGKILL.
WatchdogSignal=¶Specifies which signal to use to terminate the
service when the watchdog timeout expires (enabled through
WatchdogSec=). Defaults to SIGABRT.