On Wed, Jan 29, 2025 at 02:18:23 -0500, Jeffrey Walton wrote: > Some old programs use non-existent symlinks to store or persist state > information rather than create a normal file. But I don't believe > systemd uses the technique.
Not on purpose, but systemd does use symbolic links to store state information, and if those links become dangling due to the removal of their target, then you get the same effect in the end. hobbit:~$ systemctl is-enabled dbus-org.freedesktop.timesync1.service Failed to get unit file state for dbus-org.freedesktop.timesync1.service: Link has been severed As was pointed out earlier in this thread, the dbus-org.freedesktop.timesync1.service symlink is a service name alias for systemd-timesyncd.service. I have no idea *why* this alias was desired, but that's apparently what it is. When the systemd-timesyncd package is removed, that alias symlink is left behind. It doesn't do anything, so it's probably safe to remove it. On the other hand, it doesn't do anything, so it's definitely safe to leave it alone. If the systemd-timesyncd package were to be reinstalled, then this alias would work again.
