systemctl disable [--now] someunit@* gives wrong error message

[PenelopeFudd]

systemd version the issue has been seen with

255.4-1.fc40

Used distribution

Fedora 40

Linux kernel version used

6.8.7-300.fc40.x86_64

CPU architectures issue was seen on

x86_64

Component

systemctl

Expected behaviour you didn't see

# systemctl disable [--now] stunnel@\*

Glob pattern passed to disable, but globs are not supported for this.
Invalid unit name "stunnel@*" escaped as "stunnel@\x2a".

Unexpected behaviour you saw

# systemctl disable [--now] stunnel@\*

Glob pattern passed to enable, but globs are not supported for this.
Invalid unit name "stunnel@*" escaped as "stunnel@\x2a".

It says "enable", but it should have said "disable".

Note, this is probably just a cosmetic issue.
The issue #15620 (now closed) is about why it gives an error at all.

Steps to reproduce the problem

1. Enable a templated service one or more times.
2. Try to disable all of them with a wildcard, with or without the --now flag.

Additional program output to the terminal or log subsystem illustrating the issue

# systemctl enable --now stunnel@localhost4
 
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/stunnel@localhost4.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/stunnel@.service.
Job for stunnel@localhost4.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status stunnel@localhost4.service" and "journalctl -xeu stunnel@localhost4.service" for details.

# systemctl disable --now stunnel@\*

Glob pattern passed to enable, but globs are not supported for this.
Invalid unit name "stunnel@*" escaped as "stunnel@\x2a".

# systemctl --version

systemd 255 (255.4-1.fc40)
+PAM +AUDIT +SELINUX -APPARMOR +IMA +SMACK +SECCOMP -GCRYPT +GNUTLS +OPENSSL +ACL +BLKID +CURL +ELFUTILS +FIDO2 +IDN2 -IDN -IPTC +KMOD +LIBCRYPTSETUP +LIBFDISK +PCRE2 +PWQUALITY +P11KIT +QRENCODE +TPM2 +BZIP2 +LZ4 +XZ +ZLIB +ZSTD +BPF_FRAMEWORK +XKBCOMMON +UTMP +SYSVINIT default-hierarchy=unified

# uname -r

6.8.7-300.fc40.x86_64

# systemctl disable --now xyzzy@\*

Glob pattern passed to enable, but globs are not supported for this.
Invalid unit name "xyzzy@*" escaped as "xyzzy@\x2a".
Failed to disable unit: Unit file xyzzy@\x2a.service does not exist.

# systemctl stop stunnel@\*

Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of stunnel@localhost4.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.

# systemctl disable stunnel@\*

Glob pattern passed to enable, but globs are not supported for this.
Invalid unit name "stunnel@*" escaped as "stunnel@\x2a".

# systemctl | grep stunnel

● stunnel@localhost4.service                                                                                    loaded failed failed    TLS tunnel for localhost4
  system-stunnel.slice                                                                                          loaded active active    Slice /system/stunnel

# systemctl disable --now stunnel@localhost4

Removed "/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/stunnel@localhost4.service".

-- Any idea why daemon-reload was suggested?

[yuwata]

-> #32600

[PenelopeFudd]

As for the glob pattern not being supported, here's a workaround:

systemctl stop --now $(systemctl show -P Id servicename@\*)