Re: If Not Systemd, then What?

[Lee Winter <lee.j.i.winter@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 3:45 PM, Patrick Bartek <nemommxiv@gmail.com> wrote:

After much vitriolic gnashing of teeth from those opposed to systemd,
I wonder...  What is a better alternative?  And it can't be sysvinit.

Yes.  Syvinit still works, but it is after all 20 years old. It's been
patched and bolted onto and jury-rigged to get it to do things that
weren't even around (or dreamt of) at its inception.  It's long past
due for a contemporary replacement.  Whatever that may be.

So, what would you all propose?  For a server?  Or for a user desktop?
Or something that fulfills both scenarios?  And why?

Just wondering.

One key component of an effective startup process is dependency handling.  So why not look for one of the best as a model?  I suggest DJB's redo system.  It is excruciatingly simple.  But very effective.  And it is the opposite of monolithic.

But the real answer to this question will be found in the specs for the better system.  So someone needs to go through the specs for both sysv-init and its competitors marking features to keep and features to kill.  Then the real discussion will begin.

Lee Winter
Nashua, New Hampshire

United States of America