Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Systemd Absorbs "su" Command Functionality

Posted by timothy on from the big-and-professional-like-gnu dept.

jones_supa writes: With a pull request systemd now supports a su command functional and can create privileged sessions that are fully isolated from the original session. The su command is seen as bad because what it is supposed to do is ambiguous. On one hand it's supposed to open a new session and change a number of execution context parameters, and on the other it's supposed to inherit a lot concepts from the originating session. Lennart Poettering's long story short: "`su` is really a broken concept. It will given you kind of a shell, and it's fine to use it for that, but it's not a full login, and shouldn't be mistaken for one." The replacement command provided by systemd is machinectl shell.

12 of 747 comments (clear)

  1. superuser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Su apt-get remove systemd --purge

  2. Cryptic command names by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great to see that systemd is finally doing something about all of those cryptic command names that plague the unix ecosystem.

    Upcoming systemd re-implementations of standard utilities:

    ls to be replaced by filectl directory contents [pathname]
    grep to be replaced by datactl file contents search [plaintext] (note: regexp no longer supported as it's ambiguous)
    gimp to be replaced by imagectl open file filename draw box [x1,y1,x2,y2] draw line [x1,y1,x2,y2]...

    1. Re: Cryptic command names by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh look, another Powershell

  3. Trapper keeper ready to absorb by sjames · · Score: 3, Funny

    Lennart Cartman certainly does love his systemd trapper keeper.

    1. Re:Trapper keeper ready to absorb by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess this one is still relevant?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  4. Approaching the Singularity by FeriteCore · · Score: 5, Funny

    How long until systemd absorbs emacs?

    1. Re:Approaching the Singularity by AntiSol · · Score: 3, Funny

      Future History of Init Systems

      • 2015: systemd becomes default boot manager in debian.
      • 2017: "complete, from-scratch rewrite". In order to not have to maintain backwards compatibility, project is renamed to system-e.
      • 2019: debut of systemf, absorbtion of other projects including alsa, pulseaudio, xorg, GTK, and opengl.
      • 2021: systemg maintainers make the controversial decision to absorb The Internet Archive. Systemh created as a fork without Internet Archive.
      • 2022: systemi, a fork of systemf focusing on reliability and minimalism becomes default debian init system.
      • 2028: systemj, a complete, from-scratch rewrite is controversial for trying to reintroduce binary logging. Consensus is against the systemj devs as sysadmins remember the great systemd logging bug of 2017 unkindly. Systemj project is eventually abandoned.
      • 2029: systemk codebase used as basis for a military project to create a strong AI, known as "project skynet". Software behaves paradoxically and project is terminated.
      • 2033: systeml - "system lean" - a "back to basics", from-scratch rewrite, takes off on several server platforms, boasting increased reliability. systemm, "system mean", a fork, used in security-focused distros.
      • 2117: critical bug discovered in the long-abandoned but critical and ubiquitous system-r project. A new project, system-s, is announced to address shortcomings in the hundred-year-old codebase. A from-scratch rewrite begins.
      • 2142: systemu project, based on a derivative of systemk, introduces "Artificially intelligent init system which will shave 0.25 seconds off your boot time and absolutely definitely will not subjugate humanity". Millions die. The survivors declare "thou shalt not make an init system in the likeness of the human mind" as their highest law.
      • 2147: systemv - a collection of shell scripts written around a very simple and reliable PID 1 introduced, based on the brand new religious doctrines of "keep it simple, stupid" and "do one thing, and do it well". People's computers start working properly again, something few living people can remember. Wyld Stallyns release their 94th album. Everybody lives in peace and harmony.
  5. Upgrade by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    You should replace it with the fu command.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  6. Re:Hang on a minute... by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe mixing su with systemd is like mixing PCP and acid

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  7. Re:Hang on a minute... by RabidReindeer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe mixing su with systemd is like mixing PCP and acid

    Sulfuric or hydrochloric?

  8. Re:Hang on a minute... by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't know that. Aaaaaaaargh!

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  9. Re:Hang on a minute... by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Funny

    I honestly, seriously sometimes wonder if systemd is Skynet... or, a way for Skynet to 'waken'.

    Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15am it crashes.
    No one knows why. The binary log file was corrupted in the process and is unrecoverable. All anyone could remember is a bug listed in the systemd bug tracker talking about su which was classified as WON'T FIX as the developer thought it was a broken concept.