Welcome to the systemd-docker information hub
systemd-docker is a small utility that helps you run Docker containers under systemd the right way. It fixes common issues like logging, signal handling, and proper container shutdown that often occur when using systemd directly with Docker. This site provides documentation, usage examples, and tips to integrate systemd-docker smoothly into your workflow.
The original systemd-docker project on GitHub has been archived and is no longer maintained. Since then, several forks have emerged—some barely maintained, others with functional changes that break compatibility or deviate from the original purpose.
There’s no clear reference implementation anymore.
This website aims to list the most relevant forks, highlight the differences, and provide precompiled binaries where possible.
We use systemd-docker in our own infrastructure and want to make sure others can still benefit from this simple but useful tool.
The Original systemd-docker
The original systemd-docker was developed by @ibuildthecloud (aka Darren Shepherd, einer der Gründer von Rancher) to solve a very specific problem: running Docker containers cleanly under systemd.
At the time, using systemd to manage containers often led to broken behavior—missing logs, zombie processes, improper signal handling, and containers that wouldn’t restart or shut down properly.
systemd-docker wraps docker run in a way that makes it compatible with how systemd expects to manage services: it forwards signals, connects logs correctly, and ensures that the container’s PID is tracked properly.
It was a small but crucial tool for anyone running Docker with systemd before features like docker run --init or --pid=host became more common.
Although the original repo is now archived, its purpose remains relevant in many setups today.