[ I am not subscribed. Please keep me in CC. ] Currently, init system packages (sysvinit-core, runit-init, systemd-sysv) are mutually exclusive -- each of them provides, among other, /sbin/init file and as such, conflicts with rest. This scheme has following drawbacks: * switching between init systems is destructive: once you switch, old /sbin/init is gone; should things go wrong, you have no easy recover via init=/sbin/old-init kernel option. Side note: switching from systemd is more safe, since systemd-sysv provides only link to /lib/systemd. * unneeded inter-dependencies. New system would require update of 'Conflicts' field in rest packages. * After new init system is installed and old is removed, system is left running with old pid1 and no tools to control it, unless new system is providing compatibility. I propose to replace current approach with update-alternatives(1) approach. By coordinated effort of present init systems (in thread), we introduce master link /sbin/init and number of slave links: /sbin/halt /sbin/poweroff /sbin/reboot /sbin/runlevel /sbin/shutdown /usr/share/man/man8/halt.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/init.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/poweroff.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/reboot.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/runlevel.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/shutdown.8.gz After this is done, init systems will no longer conflict each other, and all mentioned issues would be solved. I see it as clear win, but probably I am missing something. Opinions?
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