code: def is_upstart(conn):
      
      # it may be possible that we may be systemd and the caller never checked
      # before so lets do that
      if is_systemd(conn):
          return False
  
      # get the initctl executable, if it doesn't exist we can't proceed so we
      # are probably not upstart
      initctl = conn.remote_module.which('initctl')
      if not initctl:
          return False
  
      # finally, try and get output from initctl that might hint this is an upstart
      # system. On a Ubuntu 14.04.2 system this would look like:
      # $ initctl version
      # init (upstart 1.12.1)
      stdout, stderr, _ = remoto.process.check(
          conn,
          [initctl, 'version'],
      )
      result_string = b' '.join(stdout)
      if b'upstart' in result_string:
          return True
      return False
docs: This helper should only used as a fallback (last resort) as it is not
      guaranteed that it will be absolutely correct.