Why are non-existent services disables in Qusal/Shaker?

User Support General
1

I noticed that both Qusal and Shaker disable certain services, even though their templates are based on minimal templates and those services were never installed (either directly or through dependencies).

For example:

Also, a general question:
When you enable or disable a service through Qubes settings or during creation (e.g., using SaltStack), does that just control the underlying systemd services inside the qube?
If that’s the case, what’s the actual difference between enabling/disabling services via Qubes settings versus doing it from within the qube itself—aside from convenience?

2

Why do you ask here? Would it not be better to ask the developers of both projects directly, because these projects are independent from Qubes OS?

3

Not necessarily. Enabling or disabling a service named “foo” for a qube in dom0 is just an abstract setting that the qube can see and handle in whatever way it deems appropriate (or not at all).

For some conventional service names, templates ship configuration files that tie this abstract service to a systemd service inside the qube, usually with a similar name. E.g. various NetworkManager related systemd units are configured to only get activated if the abstract service named “network-manager” was enabled (explicitly or by default, depending on what kind of qube it is):

You’d have to systemctl disable a systemd unit in the qube’s template (which would also affect all other qubes using this template). The command doesn’t really work in an individual qube, unless it’s a standalone qube.

4

In my case, I started shaker using full templates, when cups was
installed, changed to minimal, and what you see is a hangover from those
days. Copy and paste is not a good thing.

It’s possible that qusal copied this when Ben copied the code. You’d
have to ask him for reasons for other entries.

In some cases Qubes ships a wrapper around a service, that checks for a
specific file before starting it. Enabling a service in Qubes settings
creates this file. If you try to start such a service without this,
it will fail, and you will have to manually touch the file before you
can start the service. (Try it.)

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.