Rex::C...ervice(3pm)

🌸 Rex::Commands::Service — the manual, but make it cute 🌸

okay bestie, so this is a page from the User Contributed Perl Documentation for a Perl module called Rex::Commands::Service(3pm). yes that is a lot of colons. it's giving "named by someone who loves ellipses". anyway. 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

Rex::Commands::Service — literally just: Manage System Services. that's the whole vibe. 🎀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

With this module you can manage Linux services. that's it. that's the flex. run the services, control the services, be the main character of your init system. 🦋

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🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

here's the tea, the whole menu of moves, fr fr:

use Rex::Commands::Service

service apache2 => "start";

service apache2 => "stop";

service apache2 => "restart";

service apache2 => "status";

service apache2 => "reload";

service apache2 => "ensure", "started";

service apache2 => "ensure", "stopped";

⚠️ no cap, copy that use Rex::Commands::Service line exactly as it's written up there. i'm not touching it, it's not my business, it's iconic. 💀

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👑 EXPORTED FUNCTIONS 👑

⭐ service($service, $action, [$option])

the service function takes 2 parameters. parameter one is the service name 💖, parameter two is the action you want to perform ✨. ($option is the lil optional third one hanging out in the corner, minding its own business.)

🎀 starting a service

task "start-service", "server01", sub {
  service apache2 => "start";
};

🎀 stopping a service

task "stop-service", "server01", sub {
  service apache2 => "stop";
};

🎀 restarting a service

task "restart-service", "server01", sub {
  service apache2 => "restart";
};

🎀 checking status of a service

this one's my fave because it returns something and you can actually branch on it, slay:

task "status-service", "server01", sub {
  if( service apache2 => "status" ) {
    say "Apache2 is running";
  }
  else {
    say "Apache2 is not running";
  }
};

🎀 reloading a service

task "reload-service", "server01", sub {
  service apache2 => "reload";
};

🎀 ensure that a service will started at boot time

(yes the original grammar said "will started", i am not fixing it, i am respecting it, it's part of the lore 🫶)

task "prepare", sub {
  service "apache2",
    ensure => "started";
};

🎀 ensure that a service will NOT be started.

the NOT is in caps in the original and honestly? correct energy. 👑

task "prepare", sub {
  service "apache2",
    ensure => "stopped";
};

---

if you need to define a custom command for start, stop, restart, reload or status, you can do this with the corresponding options. like, you can hand it your own little commands. do your thing. 💅

task "prepare", sub {
  service "apache2",
    ensure  => "started",
    start   => "/usr/local/bin/httpd -f /etc/my/httpd.conf",
    stop    => "killall httpd",
    status  => "ps -efww | grep httpd",
    restart => "killall httpd && /usr/local/bin/httpd -f /etc/my/httpd.conf",
    reload  => "killall httpd && /usr/local/bin/httpd -f /etc/my/httpd.conf";
};

this function supports the following hooks:

• before_${action} — for example: before_start, before_stop, before_restart. this gets executed right before the given service action. all original parameters are passed to it. 🌸
• after_${action} — for example: after_start, after_stop, after_restart. this gets executed right after the given service action. all original parameters, and any returned results, are passed to it. ✨

---

🦋 service_provider_for $os => $type;

to set another service provider as the default, use this function. set it and forget it, bestie.

user "root";

group "db" => "db[01..10]";
service_provider_for SunOS => "svcadm";

task "start", group => "db", sub {
   service ssh => "restart";
};

this example will restart the ssh service via svcadm — but only on SunOS, on other operating systems it will use the default. iykyk. 🔥

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💜 reminder bestie: this whole page was generated for perl v5.40.1, dated 2025-10-03, and it's Rex::Commands::Service(3pm) from the User Contributed Perl Documentation. go forth and manage those services, you absolute icon. periodt. 💖✨🎀