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Re: upstart: please update to latest upstream version



Roger Leigh wrote:
> I certainly don't think it's fair for fairly niche platforms to hold
> back Linux indefinitely.  There is a high cost on maintainers to
> support these platforms, and it would be an ideal situation if
> systemd or upstart were sufficiently portable to run on them, even
> if they didn't support all the Linux-specific features they offer

Portability is not necessarily a positive attribute. When you're talking
about standard functionality available on all platforms, it's cleaner to
write it using standard interfaces that work everywhere. But if the
platforms do not support the same things, then portability often
requires platform-specific hacks, special cases and limitations. A
systemd that tried to work on BSD kernel would be less reliable, less
maintainable and harder to debug. I wouldn't want my Linux system to run
an init process hacked for BSD portability.

> [note: it's somewhat desirable for them to be optional on Linux
> too, to prevent feature lock-in and future compatibility problems].

Unix kernel development outside Linux is pretty limited, especially
development for features other than server use. I think "avoid requiring
Linux-specific features" would turn into "avoid technology developed
after the 90s".



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