NAME

herd - Control the shepherd(1) service manager

DESCRIPTION

herd [OPTIONS...] ACTION SERVICE [ARG...] Apply ACTION (start, stop, status, etc.) on SERVICE with the ARGs.

--group=GROUP

run the given program as GROUP

--user=USER

run the given program as USER

-E, --environment-variable=ENVIRONMENT

pass the environment variable specified by ENVIRONMENT

-d, --working-directory=DIRECTORY

run service from DIRECTORY (for transient services)

--log-file=FILE

log service output to FILE

-N, --service-name=NAME

register new service under NAME

-n, --log-history=NUMBER

display up to NUMBER service log lines

-s, --socket=FILE

send commands to FILE

--help

display this help and exit

--usage

display short usage message and exit

--version

display version information and exit

Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional to the corresponding short options.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: https://codeberg.org/shepherd/shepherd/issues .
GNU Shepherd general home page: <https://shepherding.services>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2025 the Shepherd authors License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

The full documentation for herd is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and herd programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info shepherd

should give you access to the complete manual.