Skip to content

FAQ

How do I copy text?

Running isd puts the terminal into the application mode which disables clicking and dragging to select text. Most terminal emulators offer a modifier key which you can hold while you click and drag to restore the behavior you may expect from the command line. The exact modifier key depends on the terminal and platform you are running on.

  • Ghostty: Hold the Shift key.
  • iTerm: Hold the Option key.
  • Gnome Terminal: Hold the Shift key.
  • Windows Terminal: Hold the Shift key.

Refer to the documentation for your terminal emulator, if it is not listed above.

Documentation snippet from the upstream documentation: https://textual.textualize.io/FAQ/#how-can-i-select-and-copy-text-in-a-textual-app

Copying more than a single line

One current limitation is that all rendered items are included in the text selection and copy buffer. Currently, the recommendation is to open the preview in the pager or editor and to copy the text from there. Usability enhancements for interacting with the preview window do not have a high priority at the moment, since a pager/editor can be launched with a single key press.

Why can't I view the Journal output as a normal user?

If you see the following warning: 

Warning: some journal files were not opened due to insufficient permissions
It means that your user account does not have the necessary permissions to view the journal files. Some distributions add your user account to the necessary group(s) by default, which is why it works out-of-the-box for some.

Usually, your user account needs be part of the systemd-journal group to view the system journal. Otherwise, ask community members of your distribution for support. The tutorial from Linuxize may help you if you have never added your account to your group.

Do not run isd as root!

You should never run isd as the root user to fix the Journal permission issues! Allowing your user to view the system journal is much less invasive and is the correct way to fix the issue.

Why are the features of the preview window so limited?

A different title could be:

The preview window should support X/Y/Z.

Limiting the functionality of the preview window is an explicit design decision of isd. isd should be seen as the gateway to interact and work with systemd units while seamlessly integrating with other, purpose-built tools. By integrating with other tools, isd limits the scope of the application (reducing feature creep), and gives you, the user, full control since it is easy to configure your favorite pager/editor.

The main goal of the preview window is to give quick feedback about the selected/highlighted units. But if you like to take a closer look at the output you should open the preview in a pager or editor. To open the pager you simply have to press Enter.

Why is isd so big?

At its core, isd is a Python application. As such, it requires a Python interpreter to run and this alone contributes to around 40 MB of the total installation size.

For the self-contained AppImage installation, there is no way to minimize the size. For the nix and uv installations, the same Python interpreter may be re-used by other applications, which may amortize the size across multiple installations.

If you are looking for a more light-weight solution, albeit with fewer features, have a look at sysz.

How does it differ from sysz?

sysz is a beautiful, light-weight TUI for systemctl based on fzf and bash. sysz was the inspiration for isd and has proven to be great reference material.

The main difference is that isd is stateful and allows to quickly chain multiple action together. For example, within one isd session one can search for the desired unit, edit it with the favorite editor, restart the unit, and view the journal output. sysz closes after every action. Plus, isd allows for more customization.

Why Python and not Rust or Go?

Mostly because the underlying TUI framework textual is amazing. The documentation has a very high quality and many relevant functions/widgets were already available. Plus, I am more experienced with Python and it was definitely the right tool for rapid prototyping.

Though, I am generally not a big fan of Python anymore due to frequent dependency issues1 I have encountered. But uv is a breath of fresh air and has convinced me to give Python another shot. Maybe I will rewrite the tool at some point but at this point in time, I want to see how far I can go with Python and my current packaging experience (AppImage, uv, and nix).

What are the security implications?

For a detailed description of possible security implications, take a look at the Security page.

  1. Especially, when working with CUDA libraries or custom package indexes. ↩