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Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 29. Aug 2015, 21:08
by ChuangTzu
Hello Everyone,

I was curious how the community felt regarding the possible future changes to our init. Now, to be clear, there is absolutely no mention of any change from PV or the Slackware team. Alien Bob (Eric) has come out completely against it, PV stated that he does not see the point in systemd, however, conceded that if all the major distros switch to it and it becomes a fixed dependency then Slackware might not have a choice (he may have said that in jest because like pam, gnome etc..., Slackware does not always follow the other distros). He also mentioned possibly switching to the BSD userland, while keeping the Linux kernel..... ;)

If Slackware were to switch to systemd, no matter how unlikely, should Salix do the same, or should we offer the option of systemd, or openRC, similar to the option Gentoo offers.

If Slackware sticks with BSD style init, should Salix continue with SysV or have an option for openRC? Do any of you have a need for openRC, or anything beyond SysV or BSD init?

Ref:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/OpenRC
old forum discussion between the SysV and openRC
https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... yle-55858/
old discussion about systemd
https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... md-885228/

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 30. Aug 2015, 17:47
by zAchAry
BSD style or openRC.

I voted BSD style.

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 30. Aug 2015, 18:19
by tessi
I voted openRC.

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 30. Aug 2015, 22:05
by tsuren
Follow whatever Slackware does --> I could not vote! I've got the message saying that my choice was invalid! In face, I follow whatever gapan decides there...

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 31. Aug 2015, 05:07
by coroner
I voted Follow whatever Slackware does.

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 31. Aug 2015, 13:20
by westms
Many thanks for the poll and your contribution.

I voted "Follow whatever Slackware does".

Just as well I could have chosen "BSD style". Also "System V init" would be acceptable.

Salix is the best small Linux distribution that I have ever used and I want to stick with it. That's why, I would for the time being want to follow Slackware, or what Gapan provides.

If in the poll weighting (5 - best choice, 0 - never) were possible, I would have said:
5 - Follow whatever Slackware does
4 - BSD style
3 - SysV

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 31. Aug 2015, 22:06
by ianpocks
I think sysvnit is a good software yet, I do not any knowledge about init systems but I suppose Bsd init or Openrc ( Many people say is a beta software) are good choices also...

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 25. Oct 2015, 23:29
by GJones
I don't care. Salix developers should use whatever is easiest for them, IMO.

And in truth I don't see what the big deal about systemd is. Sure it's got problems. So does the mass of duct tape and shell scripts that Slackware currently uses for its init system.

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 28. Oct 2015, 01:22
by ginsim
I say follow whatever Slackware does.
In general, most people do NOT tinker with the inits. Most of all the things I have seen and read are due to traditions, philosophies and sometimes stubborness.
SystemD is moving far to fast for it's own good, and most of the others are full of "glue", which in the long run will break, due to the fact that time is moving on.

Here is a quote from Ken Thompson and Rob Pike. Think of it as a metaphor.
Compared to Plan 9, Unix creaks and clanks and has obvious rust spots, but it gets the job done well enough to hold its position. There is a lesson here for ambitious system architects: the most dangerous enemy of a better solution is an existing codebase that is just good enough.
This goes for so many things in society etc.

cheerio
Simgin

Re: Options for Salix if Slackware is forced to switch init

Posted: 28. Oct 2015, 19:38
by ChuangTzu
A few links for your enjoyment, of course they list the reasons why not use systemd, especially in its current form and ever increasing feature creep:

http://judecnelson.blogspot.com/2014/09 ... agment_=#!

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... px=MTY1MzA

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175500300/

http://ewontfix.com/14/

That should give you a general overview and list enough reasons why systemd is not the best choice for init, and why it is not an init after all. Systemd is a RedHat power grab to create a Linux CoreOS, and they want to make it that CoreOS a hard dependencies for other programs. Thats not conspiracy, it is the spoken goal of Lennart himself, in his many "beyond init" speeches/lectures.

Personally, I think Slackware may just need to keep the Linux kernel and use BSD userland, no reason why slackpkg or slapt-get cannot utilize pkgsrc or FreeBSD ports etc...

Regards.