systemd : inconsistencies in man pages

[Sergey Ivanov]

From "man systemd-system.conf":

When packages need to customize the configuration, they can install configuration snippets in /usr/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/ or /usr/local/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/. The main configuration file is read before any of the configuration directories, and has the lowest precedence; entries in a file in any configuration directory override entries in the single configuration file. Files in the *.conf.d/ configuration subdirectories are sorted by their filename in lexicographic order, regardless of in which of the subdirectories they reside. When multiple files specify the same option, for options which accept just a single value, the entry in the file with the lexicographically latest name takes precedence. For options which accept a list of values, entries are collected as they occur in files sorted lexicographically.

However from "man SYSTEMD":

DIRECTORIES
       System unit directories
           The systemd system manager reads unit configuration from various directories. Packages that want to install unit files shall place them in the directory returned by pkg-config systemd
           --variable=systemdsystemunitdir. Other directories checked are /usr/local/lib/systemd/system and /lib/systemd/system. User configuration always takes precedence. pkg-config systemd
           --variable=systemdsystemconfdir returns the path of the system configuration directory. Packages should alter the content of these directories only with the enable and disable commands of
           the systemctl(1) tool. Full list of directories is provided in systemd.unit(5).

       User unit directories
           Similar rules apply for the user unit directories. However, here the XDG Base Directory specification[6] is followed to find units. Applications should place their unit files in the
           directory returned by pkg-config systemd --variable=systemduserunitdir. Global configuration is done in the directory reported by pkg-config systemd --variable=systemduserconfdir. The
           enable and disable commands of the systemctl(1) tool can handle both global (i.e. for all users) and private (for one user) enabling/disabling of units. Full list of directories is provided
           in systemd.unit(5).

Obviously, the 2nd one is more precise about directories for configuration files and therefore should be used in all cases. 1st paragraph of doc should link there

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

You didn't say which version of systemd whose manpages you are looking at, or which Ubuntu release you're using. I looked at the current development release of Ubuntu, and I don't see that we're changing the manpages at all from upstream in this respect (other changes are made, but that are not relevant here). Since your suggestion is an editorial one rather than a material error, I suggest that you make your case to systemd upstream directly to see if they are willing to change it. If you want to do this, I suggest you file an issue (or better, a pull request) against https://github.com/systemd/systemd/tree/master/man.

I don't think it makes sense for Ubuntu to your proposed change without upstream, so I'm going to mark this bug as Won't Fix. However if upstream make the change you suggest, a future release of Ubuntu will pick it up.