Bug#727708: call for votes on default Linux init system for jessie

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Bdale Garbee writes ("call for votes on default Linux init system for jessie"):
>   The default init system for Linux architectures in jessie should be
> 
>   1.  systemd
> 
>   2.  upstart
> 
>   3.  openrc
> 
>   4.  sysvinit (no change)
> 
>   5.  requires further discussion.

It looks like this is going to be voted down or withdrawn, thanks, and
everyone is agreed that there should be a rider about GRs.  I'll
therefore comment on the substance.

I don't want to pass a resolution specifying the default without also
answering the other two, related, contentious questions:

  Q1: Do we intend to support multiple systems long-term, or do we
  intend to settle on a single system, probably in jessie+1 ?

  Q2: Is it OK for packages to depend on a specific init system as
  pid 1 ?

There are two reasons why I want to decide these questions in the same
vote.

Firstly, as I have said, TC members should be able to express the
preference "only X, X by default but also others, Y by default but
also others, Y", which is a perfectly reasonable one but which cannot
be expressed by a concurrent ballots (and holding the ballots
sequentially in situations like this can be a way of manipulating the
result).

Secondly, making a decision on the default without clearly stating a
requirement for support for multiple systems risks a situation where
partisans for the winning system create "facts on the ground" which
make it difficult to support multiple systems.


I think there are the following three reasonable answers to Q1/Q2
taken together.

i.   Q1: Multiple in >jessie
     Q2: Requiring specific init is forbidden

ii.  Q1: Multiple in >jessie
     Q2: Requiring default init is permitted

iii. Q1: Single in jessie+1
     Q2: Requiring default init is permitted

Of these (ii) would cause the non-default inits to rot.  Unless anyone
thinks this is a useful option I don't think we should vote on it.


So that leaves my text from yesterday:

   M. Debian intends to support multiple init systems, for the
      foreseeable future, and so long as their respective communities
      and code remain healthy.  Software outside of an init system's
      implementation may not require a specific init system to be
      pid 1, although degraded operation is tolerable.

vs something like:

   O. Debian intends to converge on one init system; in jessie+1,
      packages may require that the default init system is in use.

Ian.