how to remove libsystemd0 from a live-running debian desktop system
http://lkcl.net/reports/removing_systemd_from_debian/
i've documented the process by which it is possible to run some of the
debian desktop window managers (TDE, fvwm, twm etc.) without the need
for systemd or libsystemd0 or any components related to systemd
whatsoever.
the process is not without difficulties, however out of (at the time
of writing) only two people who have followed this procedure, i was
the one that ended up having to disable udev: the other individual had
a working system (devoid of libsystemd0) purely by following only the
instructions to alter and replace bsdutils from the util-linux
package.
the reasons for demonstrating that this is possible have absolutely
nothing to do with my *personal* (technically-based) dislike of
systemd, although my reasons for actually removing libsystemd0 from
personal systems *are* based on a technical assessment (mostly with a
sysadmin eye). but, i repeat: my *personal* choice has *nothing to
do* with the reason for posting this documentation.
the reason for demonstrating that this is possible is because nobody
has yet made it clear to either the upstream developers - or to the
distro maintainers who unfortunately are caught in the crossfire -
that systemd's unilateral adoption is fast becoming an
"all-or-nothing" polarised choice that reminds me keenly of the
polarised Microsoft Monopoly power and dominance of the late 1990s.
and that *really is it*. the technical issues are completely
irrelevant: those can and will be solved. already we have evdev,
mdev, devuan, uselessd and many more, but those technical options are
*COMPLETELY SHUT OUT* by the exclusive - monopolistic - position that
systemd now has.
to illustrate the dominance of libsystemd0, if you carry out an
"apt-get --purge remove libsystemd0", *all* of the packages and many
more on the following PNG will be removed:
http://anfo.slavino.sk/libsystemd-journal0.png
that list is woefully incomplete, so i have generated a current list
using apt-rdepends -r libsystemd0 | some manual magic | sort | uniq.
http://lkcl.net/reports/removing_systemd_from_debian/list_of_libsystemd0_dependent_packages.txt
the list is a whopping 4,583 packages (from the current
debian/testing). apache2-dev, androidsdk, apt-cacher-ng,
avahi-daemon, blender, bluetooth, bochs, cairo-dock, calligra,
consolekit, cups-daemon, cups-core-drivers, cups-driver-gutenprint,
dbus - this is just a few major software libre packages i can see in
the the first 9% of the list that are affected (cannot be installed)
should anyone exercise their right to choose *not* to have libsystemd0
on their machines.
even dh is on the list. erlang is on the list! kde, gimp, xfce,
lxde, gnome, libreoffice, xine, mediawiki, mplayer, network-manager,
openjdk-7, phonon, php (??? why is php dependent on libsystemd0??),
pidgin, policykit-1, postfixadmin (??), pulseaudio, qemu, syslog-ng,
vlc, wicd (client and server), xbase-clients (??), x11-apps (??),
xbmc, xchat... those are just ones that i recognise out of the 4,500+
packages that are not permitted to be installed.
so the short and long of it is: i do not like it when people are not
given the freedom to choose... and that includes when, just like when
microsoft was so dominant in the 1990s, the choices they are presented
are not really a choice at all. what i have done therefore is to show
how to modify the debian packages for policykit-1, dbus, pulseaudio
and util-linux, such that libsystemd0 may be entirely removed.
removal of libsystemd0 from those packages trims that list of several
thousand unilaterally-excluded packages *significantly*.
this process comes with a price: i had to disable udev, and i had to
re-enable the keyboard and mouse sections in xorg.conf that i had
added years ago. however, already within hours of the report's
publication i have received word from one other person who did *not*
have the same extensive difficulties that i encountered: udev
(unmodified) worked perfectly for them. in a follow-up message they
did however explain that they have successfully installed and then
removed (at an earlier point) a source-compiled version of mdev, which
illustrates that they have some quite significant experience in
maintaining a hybrid of standard debian packages and system-critical
packages compiled directly from source.
so, in short, i have two key things to say.
to debian-users: you don't have complete choice (yet), but i have
demonstrated with a few hours work that there is a way to run
(certain) desktop environments without requiring libsystemd0 or any of
its dependencies, and after a little investigation there do appear to
be people working hard to give you your right to choose what software
to run *without* having to abandon debian.
to debian-developers: the technical issues are irrelevant (and can
always be solved over time) - it's that you are complicit in removing
people's software freedom right to choose what to run on their system:
that is why so many users are upset with you. and that really is not
a judgement, it's simply an insightful summarising statement of fact:
you have the right to choose whether the situation that you are
complicit in is something that you find acceptable or whether you do
not. i leave it entirely to you to decide.
l.
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