Hello:

On 18 Apr 2025 at 12:13, Haines Brown via Dng wrote:

> ... new install of debian daedalus ...
You surely mean *Devuan* Daedalus.
Right?

> ... lack a systemctl command.
The *systemctl* command is the central management tool for
controlling systemd.

Devuan being a *systemd-less* OS (by default) uses the sysvinit
package for its init system. Other options are available but none of
them are systemd.
ie: there is *no* systemd in *any* Devuan release.

Have a read here --> https://www.devuan.org/

TL;DR
---
"Devuan GNU+Linux is a fork of Debian without systemd that allows
users to reclaim control over their system by avoiding unnecessary
entanglements and ensuring Init Freedom."
---

> Is not systemd automatically installed ...
No.

You may see a lot of files with systemd as part of their name in a
Devuan filesystem but *none* of them are the systemd package.

They are *shims* for other packages to be able to run under Devuan.

Best,

A.