Re: upstart: please update to latest upstream version

[Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>]

"John D. Hendrickson and Sara Darnell" <johnandsara2@cox.net> writes:

> I also fail to see how upstart or systemd add anything new while they
> obscure or delete previous good work (by suggesting init(1) is to be
> deleted).

I would like to stop writing the same complex 50-line shell script with
the same obscure and weird workarounds and strange conventions every time
I package another piece of software that runs a daemon.  Instead, I'd like
to just say "run this daemon with these arguments" and dispense with all
the obnoxious boilerplate.  Similarly, I'd like to stop having to install
replacement versions of init scripts provided by other Debian packages
until the bug fixes propagate into a stable release when people try to fix
issues with the boilerplate and get the complex and strange interactions
slightly wrong.

I would like to be able to manage daemons and restart them automatically
using something that's clean and well-integrated with the system, instead
of exploring yet another way to wedge daemontools or runit sideways into
my systems.  Furthermore, I'd like other Debian users to have the benefit
of such a system without having to know about obscure add-ons like
daemontools and runit.

And, at a lesser priority but still, I think, a gain, I would also like to
stop being different than Ubuntu.  It impedes sharing work with colleagues
who are working on the same basic problems.

All of these desires except the last are satisfied by either upstart or
systemd.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org)               <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>