I’m a conservative person. I usually know what I like and what I don’t like. I was triggered to write about Systemd by this thread:
So here are my thoughts about Systemd, software design and the future.
Systemd vs more traditional init systems
I have a feeling that Systemd is equally liked and disliked. It makes it easier for sysadmins if Systemd is everywhere. For home users I’m skeptical. It’s the Windows mentality that moved to Linux (do all things and do nothing well). Worst of all is that it isn’t a drop-in init replacement, but a very aggressive piece of software that completely overtakes the distro.
I can understand Ubuntu’s choice. They want maximum compatibility with Debian and Gnome/Red Hat. If nothing else it’s cheaper that way.
From a home user perspective I notice the following: With System V or Upstart a distro boots without “race conditions” and shuts down in a very predicable manner.
On my low-end 1,6 GHz dual-core machine with HDD shut-down with Upstart takes 5-10 seconds. It’s five lines that are written on the screen with OK at the end of each line. The shut-down sequence is always the same and always takes the same amount of time. There is no waiting in the shut down process. The computer is actively shut down during those seconds.
Software design
System V and Upstart are very boring because they are predicable and that’s exactly how it should be. Maybe Systemd developers will fix “the bugs” in Systemd, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I think it’s a design problem. Systemd is not only designed for physical hardware, but virtual machines, IoT and God knows what. Just like Pulseaudio suffers from latency because it was partially designed with low power consumption in mind (smartphones).
I think developers should design whatever system they feel like. It doesn’t have to follow the Unix-way. Problem starts when your project is actively killing other projects. People wouldn’t dislike Systemd if they didn’t have to use it. I think those who like Systemd don’t realize how much power now lies in very few hands. Only Systemd developers can fix the Systemd “shut down bug”. I don’t think Canonical developers will patch Systemd like they patched GTK 3.
Because Systemd is so pervasive, I still think we underestimate the number of bugs that are directly or indirectly tied to Systemd. Pulseaudio has become better over the years. Hopefully Systemd follows the same path.
System initialization is just one of the tasks Systemd is responsible for. How much correlation is there between Systemd and Network Manager? I expect quite a lot. The problem for Systemd developers is that they created something that can be blamed for many things just because it’s everywhere. It’s not confined to a specific task or place in the system. It’s Windows design plain and simple.
I think Unix-design: “Do one thing and do it well” will serve Linux better in the long run. Developers are only human and if your garden is small it’s easier to keep it tidy.
The future
I would like to fully embrace Ubuntu MATE, because Ubuntu has the most packages, high quality packages and Wimpy and lah7 are doing an excellent job with Ubuntu MATE.
However, Systemd stands in the way. It just rubs me the wrong way. I’m not saying I never will use it. Everything in life is a trade-off. I used to feel the same way about Pulseaudio. Now I use Pulseaudio.
One thing I don’t think I will use is Wayland, but who knows? If the alternative is Windows 10 then pretty much anything is usable. I’m pretty pessimistic about the future of Linux. If Wayland replaces standalone X-server then many of the freedoms we take for granted are gone: GUI apps as root (Synaptic, Gparted), different window-managers and many theming possibilities will disappear. Will we be allowed to take screenshots?
My best possible future scenario: I get to keep as much of what I have today as possible. My window animations are smooth. Moving windows over the screen is a fluid experience. I’m not saying Wayland is a performance downgrade, because I’ve never tried it. From a freedom perspective the price seems Way too high. It’s a Land I don’t want to go to.