Reported by Robert Day There is one example of a recipe setting this variable in meta-openembedded: meta-xfce/recipes-core/images/core-image-minimal-xfce.bb:SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_TARGET = "graphical.target" And it is also set and used in openembedded-core: meta/classes/rootfs-postcommands.bbclass:SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_TARGET ?= '${@bb.utils.contains_any("IMAGE_FEATURES", [ "x11-base", "weston" ], "graphical.target", "multi-user.target", d)}' meta/classes/rootfs-postcommands.bbclass: if [ -d ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}${sysconfdir}/systemd/system -a -e ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}${systemd_system_unitdir}/${SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_TARGET} ]; then meta/classes/rootfs-postcommands.bbclass: ln -sf ${systemd_system_unitdir}/${SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_TARGET} ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}${sysconfdir}/systemd/system/default.target Michael.
Now fixed in the manuals: https://git.yoctoproject.org/yocto-docs/commit/?h=master-next&id=d5bcdf9a8b357b96656b62c41834410e662d8546