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Ask Slashdot: Can You Say Something Nice About Systemd?
ewhac writes: "I'm probably going to deeply deeply regret this, but every time a story appears here mentioning systemd, a 700-comment thread of back-and-forth bickering breaks out which is about as informative as an old Bud Light commercial, and I don't really learn anything new about the subject. My gut reaction to systemd is (currently) a negative one, and it's very easy to find screeds decrying systemd on the net. However, said screeds haven't been enough to prevent its adoption by several distros, which leads me to suspect that maybe there's something worthwhile there that I haven't discovered yet. So I thought it might be instructive to turn the question around and ask the membership about what makes systemd good. However, before you stab at the "Post" button, there are some rules...
Bias Disclosure: I currently dislike systemd because — without diving very deeply into the documentation, mind — it looks and feels like a poorly-described, gigantic mess I know nothing about that seeks to replace other poorly-described, smaller messes which I know a little bit about. So you will be arguing in that environment."
Nice Things About systemd Rules:
Bias Disclosure: I currently dislike systemd because — without diving very deeply into the documentation, mind — it looks and feels like a poorly-described, gigantic mess I know nothing about that seeks to replace other poorly-described, smaller messes which I know a little bit about. So you will be arguing in that environment."
Nice Things About systemd Rules:
- Post each new Nice Thing as a new post, not as a reply to another post. This will let visitors skim the base level of comments for things that interest them, rather than have to dive through a fractally expanding tree of comments looking for things to support/oppose. It will also make it easier to follow the next rule:
- Avoid duplication; read the entire base-level of comments before adding a new Nice Thing. Someone may already have mentioned your Nice Thing. Add your support/opposition to that Nice Thing there, rather than as a new post.
- Only one concrete Nice Thing about systemd per base-level post. Keep the post focused on a single Nice Thing systemd does. If you know of multiple distinct things, write multiple distinct posts.
- Describe the Nice Thing in some detail. Don't assume, for example, that merely saying "Supports Linux cgroups" will be immediately persuasive.
- Describe how the Nice Thing is better than existing, less controversial solutions. systemd is allegedly better at some things than sysvinit or upstart or inetd. Why? Why is the Nice Thing possible in systemd, and impossible (or extremely difficult) with anything else? (In some cases, the Nice Thing will be a completely new thing that's never existed before; describe why it's good thing.)
We will assume out of the gate that systemd boots your system faster than ${SOMETHING_ELSE}, so no points for bringing that up. Bonus points are awarded for:
- Personal Experience. "I actually did this," counts for way more than, "The docs claim you can do this."
- Working Examples. Corollary to the above — if you did a Nice Thing with systemd, consider also posting the code/script/service file you wrote to accomplish it.
- Links to Supporting Documentation. If you leveraged a Nice Thing, furnish a link to the docs you used that describe the Nice Thing and its usage.
By
eldavojohn
Systemd has a nice ring to it. The way the syllables roll off my tongue pleases me greatly. It could be the title of a great anime series. It could even be the lost name of an ancient forgotten god-king. It might even be the name I give my first born. It sounds much more authoritative and genuine than sysvinit or upstart or inetd. For instance from my non-technical fourth grade perspective this is what I interpret the others to mean:
Contrary to your base assumptions, systemd does not actually boot faster on my Pentium II (Intel inside) system. I just like the way it sounds.
My work here is dung.
I do have one nice thing to say about systemd,
"systemd is no worse than watching a 'Timmy Time' video on Beta Slashdot. In fact, if forced to choose between the two, I would happily run systemd on all my servers."
Or even better : The nice thing is systemD is not portable. It will infect only linux.
aaaaaaa
I'm looking forward to the next follow up:
Ask Slashdot - Can you say something nice about Florian Mueller?
or no even better:
Ask Slashdot - Can you say something nice about Slashdot Beta?
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Something nice about Systemd... well.. uh...
Systemd is PROBABLY not quite as bad as Dick Cheney.
There, how was that?
I like it because it hasn't been proven to cause Tourette syndrome. The swearing it seems to cause is just a coincidence.
Holden: You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down...
Leon: What one?
Holden: What?
Leon: What desert?
Holden: It doesn't make any difference what desert, it's completely hypothetical.
Leon: But, how come I'd be there?
Holden: Maybe you're fed up. Maybe you want to be by yourself. Who knows? You look down and see a server, Leon. It's serving web pages ...
Leon: Server? What's that?
Holden: You know what a computer is?
Leon: Of course!
Holden: Same thing.
Leon: I've never seen a computer... But I understand what you mean.
Holden: You reach down and install Microsoft Windows on it, Leon.
Leon: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Holden? Or do they write 'em down for you?
Holden: The server lays on its back, its case baking in the hot sun, thrashing its hard drive trying to boot up, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.
Leon: What do you mean, I'm not helping?
Holden: I mean: you're not helping! Why is that, Leon?
[Leon has become visibly shaken]
Holden: They're just questions, Leon. In answer to your query, they're written down for me. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response... Shall we continue?
[Leon nods]
Holden: Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... Systemd.
Leon: Systemd?
Holden: Yeah.
Leon: Let me tell you about Systemd.
[Leon shoots Holden with a gun he had pulled out under the table]
I used it in its first versions, and it handled my 5.1 setup perfectly, switched to headphones when I plugged them. And it had per-application volume working out of the box.
AKA the "I like PulseAudio because I coincidentally owned the hardware it actually supported well" comment.
Hey, it's not HIS fault your cow wasn't spherical enough!
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
To date, there is no evidence that systemd causes ebola.