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Linux 4.1 Bringing Many Changes, But No KDBUS
An anonymous reader writes: The first release candidate of Linux 4.1 is now available. Linus noted, "The merge window is pretty normal in terms of what got merged too. Just eyeballing the size, it looks like this is going to fit right in — while 4.0 was a bit smaller than usual, 4.1 seems to be smack dab in the middle of the normal range for the last couple of years." There are numerous new features in Linux 4.1, like Xbox One controller force feedback support, better Wacom tablet support, Intel Atom SoC performance improvements, Radeon DisplayPort MST support, EXT4 file-system encryption, ChromeOS Lightbar support, and ACPI for 64-bit ARM, among other additions. However, KDBUS wasn't accepted for Linux 4.1.
"Working" is not a very high bar to meet when you're talking about something as simple as an init system. init systems are not at all hard to write. They start programs according to rules and restart them if they quit or crash. Read a config file, fork() off your children, then use waitpid()/waitid() with W_NOHANG in a loop to handle terminations. The sysvinit code used by all Linux distros until SystemD reared its ugly head had been floating around has been effectively without a maintainer for probably decades. And that was fine because the code was so damn simple any competent coder could clone it in his sleep if necessary.
So SystemD's cloning sysvinit is not particularly impressive. Dumping everything and the kitchen sink into the same source tree is also not particularly impressive. Not supporting any OSes other than Linux because it would cramp their brogrammer style is another thing that makes them look bad.
I don't know if SystemD will ultimately crash and burn. I can't predict the future. But, if these clowns keep going as they are, good chance.