#1136887 gkrellmd: systemd restarts gkrellmd every 90 seconds

Package:
gkrellmd
Source:
gkrellmd
Description:
GNU Krell Monitors Server
Submitter:
Eric Towers
Date:
2026-05-30 11:21:02 UTC
Severity:
normal
#1136887#5
Date:
2026-05-16 20:08:22 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

*** Reporter, please consider answering these questions, where appropriate ***

While testing Forky, starting monitoring gkrellmd from my desktop.
gkrellmd version 2.3.11 talking to GKrellM 2.3.11 works for a while,
thenstops.  Clicking the titlebar of the GKrellM instance always
reconnects,
so the gkrellmd instance is running any time the client check for it.
Checking the journal for the gkrellmd service, find:

    May 16 14:37:47 server010 systemd[1]: gkrellmd.service: Scheduled
restart job, restart counter is at 4521.
    May 16 14:37:47 server010 systemd[1]: Starting gkrellmd.service -
GNU Krell Monitors server...
    May 16 14:37:47 server010 gkrellmd[235812]: Starting GKrellM Daemon 2.3.11
    May 16 14:39:17 server010 systemd[1]: gkrellmd.service: start
operation timed out. Terminating.
    May 16 14:39:17 server010 systemd[1]: gkrellmd.service: Failed
with result 'timeout'.
    May 16 14:39:17 server010 systemd[1]: Failed to start
gkrellmd.service - GNU Krell Monitors server.
    May 16 14:39:17 server010 systemd[1]: gkrellmd.service: Scheduled
restart job, restart counter is at 4522.

The service description file for this service,
/etc/systemd/system/gkrellmd.service, contains

    [Unit]
    Description=GNU Krell Monitors server
    Documentation=man:gkrellmd(1)
    After=network.target

    [Service]
    # Type=forking is used because gkrellmd detaches itself
    Type=forking
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/gkrellmd -U gkrellmd --detach --syslog
    Restart=on-failure
    User=gkrellmd
    Group=nogroup

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

where I see "Restart=on-failure" and "Type=forking", so it is clear
why SystemD is restarting gkrellmd *repeatedly*, but unclear why SystemD is
pretending that gkrellmd failed to start.
#1136887#10
Date:
2026-05-28 23:00:20 UTC
From:
To:
Workaround:
Replace
    Type=forking
with
    Type=simple
in the unit file.

Apparently, gkrellmd does *not* fork and return, so Type=forking is incorrect.
#1136887#15
Date:
2026-05-30 11:12:02 UTC
From:
To:
There is no gkrellm(d) in testing at the moment and the one in unstable
ships a systemd unit that doesn't use "Type=forking". It sounds like the
package is either outdated or not from a Debian repository.

FWIW, GKrellM >= 2.4.0 ships a systemd unit (which does not use forking
either).

Regards,
Stefan Gehn