Systemd is a suite of basic building blocks

(brand.systemd.io)

20 points | by Bluestein 2 hours ago

7 comments

  • mxuribe 1 hour ago
    This should be renamed to "Branding about..."...Because that seems to be the focus on this destination webpage...and not content specific to the underlying tech of systemd.
    • kyleee 1 minute ago
      Yes a more accurate headline - systemd would like to be perceived as a suite of basic building blocks
  • tosti 13 minutes ago
    I can recommend the book "Savaged by Systemd"

    It's on AA

  • badatnames 12 minutes ago
    Where "basic" follows a highly nuanced alternate definition, where if you step out of line without realising it, you lose 3 days debugging a complex undocumented interaction between 4 enterprise crapware daemons only to find out the answer is "you're wrong and won't fix" buried in a 6 year old bug report, when all you did was plug in a USB mouse or try to set the default audio output device, or something else.

    Total and utter propaganda, it's underdeveloped steaming garbage

    • ux266478 11 minutes ago
      I think the problem is that it's overdeveloped rather than underdeveloped.
      • 9dev 5 minutes ago
        The reason for seeing overcomplexity in systemd components is usually that you never considered the use cases of other people or proper server management - mostly because in the days of olde, everyone cobbled together their shell script Jenga towers in seclusion.
      • badatnames 10 minutes ago
        You know it's underdeveloped because everything is described as "basic" or "simple". There's no such thing in any complex design, yet somehow for all his purported seniority, he keeps pumping out designs using the same description.
  • 0xbadcafebee 35 minutes ago
    "Building blocks" makes it sound like things you can use to build other things. In reality it's more of an octopus, or a fungus.
    • 9dev 3 minutes ago
      But that’s precisely what it allows you to do: plug a socket unit into a service unit, connect a timer unit, then another service as a dependency… and that’s just for the init management. Systemd might not fit your personal stylistic preferences, but most of all it’s consistent.
  • seany 30 minutes ago
    We had reasonable building blocks before systemd...
    • IshKebab 7 minutes ago
      A bunch of barely working duck-taped Bash scripts? Hardly reasonable.
  • jauntywundrkind 1 hour ago
    This is just the homepage. Bah. I was hopeful this might be more! I would genuinely love for some posting on systemd that can actually talk to this.

    There's posts on using systemd for this or that, which are fine, but it feels like the pro-systemd camp doesn't find or make opportunities to rally, to express ths vision, where-as the anti-vision (as ever) sells itself, is a magnet that makes common party out of all dissent.

    • nomel 30 minutes ago
      > pro-systemd camp doesn't find or make opportunities to rally

      I'm not aware of this sort of parading in open source software. Do you have a past example? I see it as competent people using things that they want to use, with the "better" being preferred, for whatever reasons (including momentum). "Advocating" for an init system seems like something that should be entirely and completely by merit, with maintainability, debugability, and fragility probably being the top metrics for most systems, speed being important for anything with a human sitting in front of it.

    • akerl_ 19 minutes ago
      Given that the overwhelming majority of Linux distros have moved to systemd, it's not clear why the pro-systemd camp would need to be finding or making opportunities to rally.

      They're spending their time build and improving systemd's set of building blocks.

    • mxuribe 59 minutes ago
      @jauntywundrkind I was about reply...but then @McGlockenshire said it best! Cut off the subdomain, and you'll get more info. ;-)
    • wmf 37 minutes ago
      Every now and then there's a blog post or presentation that combines several systemd features to show how the result is a better overall system. The All Systems Go conference https://all-systems-go.io/ is a good place to learn about systemd.
    • Bluestein 48 minutes ago
      - https://systemd.io/ is full of documentation.-
    • ares623 19 minutes ago
      Do they need to? As an outsider, my view is that they already "won".
    • McGlockenshire 1 hour ago
      Yeah this is just a link to the branding page. I do appreciate the discussion of "system 500" at the bottom.

      But if you yank out the "brand" from the URL you'll get the actual site.

      • jauntywundrkind 40 minutes ago
        Sure. These sites are fine rallying points, absolutely.

        But they are also very old, and there's very few efforts I've seen to pitch and promote systemd. It's found and enjoyed by a lot of people (particularly those who had to deal with the tangled haphazard sprawl of cobbled together systems from the before times), it makes nicely visible what is happening on the system, integrates cgroups and good least capabilities practices.

        But it feels to me like there ought be more ongoing and vocal celebration of this, enjoyment of this. More rallying points that trumpet the wins, that page people in to how nicely this helps. I want to see more positive tech advocacy, is what I'm saying. This is a fine site, yes, with lots of discussion. I've enjoyed decades of Lennart blog posts too. But I wish there was more. I wish this submission was a blog post of the same title. A fresh take, a fresh spin, on such a worthy-of-treatment topic.

    • graemep 1 hour ago
      The vision is controversial so a lot of advocates find it easier to promote as an init system.

      It tends to be the anti-systemd people who keep saying its not just an init system.