What does the expression 'Environment = "TERM = dumb"' mean in the [Service] section of the systemd service file? It is particularly interesting that the assignment makes "TERM = dumb".

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    sets the TERM environment variable to dumb , obviously ... "why?" - it’s better to ask the person who wrote the module or at least provide the context ... - Fat-Zer
  • The link is described here, but I still do not understand why? Type = idle - understandably systemd will delay the execution of the binary service file until all other tasks are completed. But the line below is not ... - Timur

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Environment="TERM=dumb" sets the TERM environment variable to dumb when the script is run.

“Why is it done here ?” - it is better to ask the author, I can put forward a few guesses:

  • because powertop is a console utility that uses curses, so the author was probably worried that she could format her output or try to capture the terminal depending on the TERM value and therefore assigned an invalid value to it.
  • or maybe powertop simply refused to work without installing TERM .
  • or the author simply thoughtlessly copied this line from another module, and here it doesn’t affect anything and is not needed at all.

In any case, it is possible that this line is not absolutely necessary ...