Re: There is no choice
* On 2014 21 Sep 06:52 -0500, Miles Fidelman wrote:
> The issue of the day (week) on debian-devel seems to be systemd-shim --
> which kind of has to work for anyone to use an alternate init system; but
> seems NOT to work (or at least lag behind).
When systemd-shim is forced to chase the taillights of systemd, it is
doomed to always lag behind. As the authors of systemd have apparently
opted not to constrain themselves to a stable/published API or limit the
scope of their project, systemd-shim will always be in catch up mode.
This recalls a term from the late '90s when the emerging Linux desktop
was fighting to establish itself against the Microsoft
hegemony--"Chasing MS' taillights." It would seem that systemd-shim
faces a similar situation.
I am most concerned about the systemd project's intention to subsume
many other projects rather than simply be a cooperative member of the
vast Free Software ecosystem. It seems to me that this is the source of
much of the angst presented here and elsewhere. To me this is a
troubling attitude that overshadows whatever technical improvement
systemd sought to bring to the Free desktop. The angst is a natural
reaction to this sort of invasive attitude in what has been mostly a
very cooperative community for the previous 18 years that I have been
working with and using Free Software. Unfortunately, this attitude and
its product have become a large enough presence that they're no longer
just a routing problem.
What I will be looking for are ways to maintain a mostly POSIX compliant
system that is based on the Linux kernel and still has a good desktop
experience. I hope that I will be able to do that with Debian as I've
been using Debian for right at 15 years and am most familiar and
comfortable with it. I wade through these threads looking for those
tidbits of information that are helpful to that end. I am also a
maintainer/developer of two small upstream projects that are in Debian
and I value quite highly the quality and stability offered by the Debian
Project.
- Nate
--
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true."
Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://www.n0nb.us
Reply to: