Bug#891836: systemd: systemctl start/stop/restart valid-template at invalid-instance doesn't cause errors

[Martin von Wittich]

Package: systemd
Version: 232-25+deb9u1
Severity: normal
Tags: upstream

Dear Maintainer,

the following commands unexpectedly do not print any error messages or
return non-zero exit codes:

martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl stop postgresql at does-not-exist
martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl start postgresql at does-not-exist
martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl restart postgresql at does-not-exist

reload on the other hand does:

martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl reload postgresql at does-not-exist; echo $?
postgresql at does-not-exist.service is not active, cannot reload.
1

martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl stop does-not-exist
Failed to stop does-not-exist.service: Unit does-not-exist.service not loaded.
martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl restart does-not-exist
Failed to restart does-not-exist.service: Unit does-not-exist.service not found.
martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl restart does-not-exist
Failed to restart does-not-exist.service: Unit does-not-exist.service not found.
martin.mein-iserv.de ~ # systemctl reload does-not-exist
Failed to reload does-not-exist.service: Unit does-not-exist.service not found.

-- Package-specific info:

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.3
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages systemd depends on:
ii  adduser         3.115
ii  libacl1         2.2.52-3+b1
ii  libapparmor1    2.11.0-3
ii  libaudit1       1:2.6.7-2
ii  libblkid1       2.29.2-1
ii  libc6           2.24-11+deb9u1
ii  libcap2         1:2.25-1
ii  libcryptsetup4  2:1.7.3-4
ii  libgcrypt20     1.7.6-2+deb9u2
ii  libgpg-error0   1.26-2
ii  libidn11        1.33-1
ii  libip4tc0       1.6.0+snapshot20161117-6
ii  libkmod2        23-2
ii  liblz4-1        0.0~r131-2+b1
ii  liblzma5        5.2.2-1.2+b1
ii  libmount1       2.29.2-1
ii  libpam0g        1.1.8-3.6
ii  libseccomp2     2.3.1-2.1
ii  libselinux1     2.6-3+b3
ii  libsystemd0     232-25+deb9u1
ii  mount           2.29.2-1
ii  procps          2:3.3.12-3
ii  util-linux      2.29.2-1

Versions of packages systemd recommends:
ii  dbus            1.10.24-0+deb9u1
ii  libpam-systemd  232-25+deb9u1

Versions of packages systemd suggests:
pn  policykit-1        <none>
pn  systemd-container  <none>
pn  systemd-ui         <none>

Versions of packages systemd is related to:
pn  dracut           <none>
ii  initramfs-tools  0.130
ii  udev             232-25+deb9u1

-- no debconf information