Re: Survey answers part 3: systemd is not portable and what this means for our ports
On 07/21/2013 05:04 PM, Josselin Mouette wrote:
Le samedi 20 juillet 2013 à 19:21 -0400, The Wanderer a écrit :
[I am almost certainly going to regret this.]
I hope so.
Please don't be a jerk.
Making the switch away from the entrenched sysvinit is visibly very
difficult, at least as a social matter, even in the environment we
have. systemd et al., by virtue of the integration which is
apparently one of their selling points and the "proprietary"[0]
interfaces they seem to use, look like they would create an
environment where a similar switch to "whatever comes next" would
be even harder - at least partly as a technical matter, rather than
a social one.
Hey guys, I know this “Linux” thing is better than Minix, but it
brings a lot of new features that we will be growing accustomed to.
If we ever want to switch to Hurd one day, this is going to be much
more complicated.
My objection has nothing whatsoever to do with "growing accustomed to
features". (The line further down about "without losing other
functionality" might have hinted at that fact.)
It has to do with A: lock-in to the interfaces of the current proposed
solution, even if those interfaces might not suit "whatever comes next",
and B: potential interdependency between the current proposed solution
and other (theoretically distinct) elements, such that you can't replace
one of them without replacing all of them - unless your replacement
exactly matches all of the interfaces of the current proposed solution.
I could go on at considerable length about what I mean by this and why
your sarcastic counterexample does not counter it, but I seriously doubt
you would be receptive, and this is probably not a good place for that
discussion. (Though the places which might be more appropriate probably
wouldn't welcome it either.)
This has to be one of the most twisted and bad faith arguments I ever
heard in a situation of change resistance.
My argument may perhaps be twisted (that's at least partly a matter of
perspective), but it is absolutely not in bad faith.
I made my previous post partly in hopes of drawing attention to my
honest concerns, and partly in hopes of having those concerns
convincingly shot down - and of thereby being reassured about the idea
of going forward with systemd. (As I've said, I actually like what I've
read about its functionality and so forth; if those concerns could be
eliminated, I'd be greatly looking forward to seeing it adopted.)
This sort of sneering, hostile response does not serve to convincingly
shoot down my concerns, or to reassure me about systemd. If anything, it
would probably have the opposite effect.
--
The Wanderer
Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.
Every time you let somebody set a limit they start moving it.
- LiveJournal user antonia_tiger
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