Is Ubuntu 14.04 using systemd?

Ubuntu 14.04 uses Upstart as the init system, the plan to switch to systemd is planned for 14.10+. There are parts of "systemd" that have been used in Ubuntu for a long time, but for most intents and purposes when people say "systemd" they mean systemd-as-init.

Here's some background info:

• http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-1403/meeting/22156/core-1403-systemd-transition/
• http://summit.ubuntu.com/uos-1406/meeting/22277/ubuntu-server-plans-around-systemd/

To show what init process is enabled:

# readlink /sbin/init

By default on 14.04 and 14.10 it's "upstart"

Changing this would involve alot more configuration than just changing this symlink so don't do that. This file is nearly always a simlink. In this case the link path does not start with / so this is a path relative to the symlink file to /sbin/upstart.

To confuse matters systemd is installed for other things but not used as init. It is in /bin not /sbin. But systemd has installed itself as init in man / help, so:

# man init

Brings up docs on systemd (as of Dec 22, 2014) This is very confusing ! You want:

# man upstart 

This will give you the docs for init as they should be.

Good luck getting started. (pun ah ah)

If you are running Ubuntu vivid (15.04) upstart is still default, but, you can easily switch between upstart and systemd at will, since both packages are installed at present:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SystemdForUpstartUsers

In ubuntu 15.10 systemd is the default, but you still can choose upstart each boottime in the grub menu