[Bug 1828892] Re: systemctl - alias service reports inactive while aliased is active

[Ioanna Alifieraki]

@ddstreet There is no need to include the manpage correction (commit 71c9f49d730c8e)
since it reverts commit c7612b2 which does not exist in xenial systemd.

Initially issue #7875 was classified as feature request and not as a bug.
Upstream added modified the manpage (https://github.com/systemd/systemd/commit/c7612b20052d9151f60a96623b8743cbac88390d)
to clarify that 'is-active' command does not load units and therefore explain why an
alias unit is reported inactive while the aliased is reported active.
Later, when they realised it is a bug and fixed it they reverted c7612b2 with 71c9f49d730c8e.

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Title:
  systemctl - alias service reports inactive while aliased is active

Status in systemd package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress
Status in systemd source package in Xenial:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  'systemctl is-active' command reports an alias service as inactive even though the aliased service
  is active.
  Currently the 'systemctl is-active' command does not load units to minimise its effect on the system (i.e. that a monitoring command does not itself alter the state of the system).
  However, this behaviour leads to inconsistencies when services are aliased.

  [Test case]

  - Test case 1 - libvirtd

  alias service : libvirtd
  aliased service : libvirt-bin

  /etc/systemd/system$ ls -la libvirtd.service 
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 May 13 20:49 libvirtd.service -> /lib/systemd/system/libvirt-bin.service

  $ systemctl is-active libvirtd
  inactive

  $ systemctl is-active libvirt-bin
  active

  
  - Test case 2 - sshd

  alias service : sshd
  aliased service : ssh

  /ect/systemd/system$ ls -la sshd.service 
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Mar 19 19:44 sshd.service -> /lib/systemd/system/ssh.service

  $ systemctl is-active sshd
  inactive

  $ systemctl is-active ssh
  active

  
  [Regression Potential]

  This fix may result into systemctl reporting inconsistent information
  concerning the status of a service.

  [Other]

  Upstream issue : https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/7875
  Upstream fix : https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/7997

  Xenial is affected, fix exists on Bionic onward.

  $ lsb_release -rd
  Description:	Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
  Release:	16.04

  $ apt-cache policy systemd
  systemd:
    Installed: 229-4ubuntu21.21
    Candidate: 229-4ubuntu21.21

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