[Pkg-systemd-maintainers] Bug#732156: Precise documentation for ExecStart command syntax

[Ian Jackson]

Package: systemd
Version: 204-5
Severity: minor

Reading systemd.service(5), I'm confused about the exact syntax and
quoting for the "ExecStart=" directive.

AFAICT from reading systemd.unit(5), the values in the unit file
general syntax are whatever comes after the =, and it is up to the
particular directive to specify the interpretation of the RHS.

ExecStart talks about multiple commands being separated by semicolons.
It also talks about "the first argument" but it doesn't specify how
arguments are split.  It tells us that shell syntax is not used.  But
it provides this example:

    ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'dmesg | tac'

If that example is correct, something nontrivial must be going on.
I think it should be documented.

Thanks,
Ian.