diff --git a/Propellor/Property/Apt.hs b/Propellor/Property/Apt.hs
index ac1d9a1..ff9b3de 100644
--- a/Propellor/Property/Apt.hs
+++ b/Propellor/Property/Apt.hs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import Control.Monad
 
 import Propellor
 import qualified Propellor.Property.File as File
+import qualified Propellor.Property.Service as Service
 import Propellor.Property.File (Line)
 
 sourcesList :: FilePath
@@ -149,9 +150,7 @@ autoRemove = runApt ["-y", "autoremove"]
 unattendedUpgrades :: RevertableProperty
 unattendedUpgrades = RevertableProperty enable disable
   where
-	enable = setup True
-		`before` installed ["cron"]
-		`before` serviceRunning "cron"
+	enable = setup True `before` Service.running "cron"
 	disable = setup False
 
 	setup enabled = (if enabled then installed else removed) ["unattended-upgrades"]
@@ -176,3 +175,10 @@ reConfigure package vals = reconfigure `requires` setselections
 					hPutStrLn h $ unwords [package, template, tmpltype, value]
 				hClose h
 	reconfigure = cmdProperty "dpkg-reconfigure" ["-fnone", package]
+
+-- | Ensures that a service is installed and running.
+--
+-- Assumes that there is a 1:1 mapping between service names and apt
+-- package names.
+serviceInstalledRunning :: Package -> Property
+serviceInstalledRunning svc = Service.running svc `requires` installed [svc]
diff --git a/Propellor/Property/Cmd.hs b/Propellor/Property/Cmd.hs
index f661cf8..c715fd2 100644
--- a/Propellor/Property/Cmd.hs
+++ b/Propellor/Property/Cmd.hs
@@ -3,16 +3,12 @@ module Propellor.Property.Cmd (
 	cmdProperty',
 	scriptProperty,
 	userScriptProperty,
-	serviceRunning,
-	serviceRestarted,
 ) where
 
-import Control.Monad
 import Control.Applicative
 import Data.List
 
 import Propellor.Types
-import Propellor.Engine
 import Utility.Monad
 import Utility.SafeCommand
 import Utility.Env
@@ -47,22 +43,3 @@ userScriptProperty :: UserName -> [String] -> Property
 userScriptProperty user script = cmdProperty "su" ["-c", shellcmd, user]
   where
 	shellcmd = intercalate " ; " ("set -e" : "cd" : script)
-
-type ServiceName = String
-
--- | Ensures that a service is running.
---
--- Note that due to the general poor state of init scripts, the best
--- we can do is try to start the service, and if it fails, assume
--- this means it's already running.
-serviceRunning :: ServiceName -> Property
-serviceRunning svc = Property ("running " ++ svc) $ do
-	void $ ensureProperty $
-		scriptProperty ["service " ++ shellEscape svc ++ " start >/dev/null 2>&1 || true"]
-	return NoChange
-
-serviceRestarted :: ServiceName -> Property
-serviceRestarted svc = Property ("restarted " ++ svc) $ do
-	void $ ensureProperty $
-		scriptProperty ["service " ++ shellEscape svc ++ " restart >/dev/null 2>&1 || true"]
-	return NoChange
diff --git a/Propellor/Property/Cron.hs b/Propellor/Property/Cron.hs
index 30bdb51..fa6019e 100644
--- a/Propellor/Property/Cron.hs
+++ b/Propellor/Property/Cron.hs
@@ -18,8 +18,7 @@ job desc times user cddir command = ("/etc/cron.d/" ++ desc) `File.hasContent`
 	, ""
 	, times ++ "\t" ++ user ++ "\t" ++ "cd " ++ cddir ++ " && " ++ command
 	]
-	`requires` Apt.installed ["cron"]
-	`requires` serviceRunning "cron"
+	`requires` Apt.serviceInstalledRunning "cron"
 	`describe` ("cronned " ++ desc)
 
 -- | Installs a cron job, and runs it niced and ioniced.
diff --git a/Propellor/Property/OpenId.hs b/Propellor/Property/OpenId.hs
index 4f22bdb..c397bdb 100644
--- a/Propellor/Property/OpenId.hs
+++ b/Propellor/Property/OpenId.hs
@@ -3,15 +3,15 @@ module Propellor.Property.OpenId where
 import Propellor
 import qualified Propellor.Property.File as File
 import qualified Propellor.Property.Apt as Apt
+import qualified Propellor.Property.Service as Service
 
 import Data.List
 
 providerFor :: [UserName] -> String -> Property
 providerFor users baseurl = propertyList desc $
-	[ serviceRunning "apache2"
-		`requires` Apt.installed ["apache2"]
+	[ Apt.serviceInstalledRunning "apache2"
 	, Apt.installed ["simpleid"]
-		`onChange` serviceRestarted "apache2"
+		`onChange` Service.restarted "apache2"
 	, File.fileProperty desc
 		(map setbaseurl) "/etc/simpleid/config.inc"
 	] ++ map identfile users
diff --git a/Propellor/Property/Service.hs b/Propellor/Property/Service.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2fb3e0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Propellor/Property/Service.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+module Propellor.Property.Service where
+
+import Propellor
+import Utility.SafeCommand
+
+type ServiceName = String
+
+-- | Ensures that a service is running. Does not ensure that
+-- any package providing that service is installed. See
+-- Apt.serviceInstalledRunning
+--
+-- Note that due to the general poor state of init scripts, the best
+-- we can do is try to start the service, and if it fails, assume
+-- this means it's already running.
+running :: ServiceName -> Property
+running svc = Property ("running " ++ svc) $ do
+		void $ ensureProperty $
+			scriptProperty ["service " ++ shellEscape svc ++ " start >/dev/null 2>&1 || true"]
+		return NoChange
+
+restarted :: ServiceName -> Property
+restarted svc = Property ("restarted " ++ svc) $ do
+	void $ ensureProperty $
+		scriptProperty ["service " ++ shellEscape svc ++ " restart >/dev/null 2>&1 || true"]
+	return NoChange
diff --git a/Propellor/Property/SiteSpecific/GitAnnexBuilder.hs b/Propellor/Property/SiteSpecific/GitAnnexBuilder.hs
index 149c8e6..580a52d 100644
--- a/Propellor/Property/SiteSpecific/GitAnnexBuilder.hs
+++ b/Propellor/Property/SiteSpecific/GitAnnexBuilder.hs
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ builder arch crontimes rsyncupload = combineProperties "gitannexbuilder"
 	, Apt.buildDep ["git-annex"]
 	, Apt.installed ["git", "rsync", "moreutils", "ca-certificates",
 		"liblockfile-simple-perl", "cabal-install", "vim", "less"]
-	, serviceRunning "cron" `requires` Apt.installed ["cron"]
+	, Apt.serviceInstalledRunning "cron"
 	, User.accountFor builduser
 	, check (not <$> doesDirectoryExist gitbuilderdir) $ userScriptProperty builduser
 		[ "git clone git://git.kitenet.net/gitannexbuilder " ++ gitbuilderdir
diff --git a/config-joey.hs b/config-joey.hs
index 6e58d5d..baabd8c 100644
--- a/config-joey.hs
+++ b/config-joey.hs
@@ -68,8 +68,7 @@ container _parenthost name
 		[ Docker.publish "8080:80"
 		, Docker.volume "/var/www:/var/www"
 		, Docker.inside $ props
-			& serviceRunning "apache2"
-				`requires` Apt.installed ["apache2"]
+			& Apt.serviceInstalledRunning "apache2"
 			& Apt.unattendedUpgrades
 		]
 
diff --git a/config-simple.hs b/config-simple.hs
index d5015ef..5e43b46 100644
--- a/config-simple.hs
+++ b/config-simple.hs
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ container _ "webserver" = Just $ Docker.containerFrom "joeyh/debian-unstable"
 	[ Docker.publish "80:80"
 	, Docker.volume "/var/www:/var/www"
 	, Docker.inside $ props
-		& serviceRunning "apache2"
-			`requires` Apt.installed ["apache2"]
+		& Apt.serviceInstalledRunning "apache2"
 	]
 container _ _ = Nothing