[Software Development][Linux] The bitter fight over how Linux should run

Because the only requirement imposed by the Linux kernel on the init process is that it has to exist, there are many different ways to implement it. One of the usual roles filled by the init system is to launch and monitor background processes (called daemons). In the beginning, there was the Research Unix init system that simply ran a single script that started up all the other processes, then in came System V init, first introduced in AT&T UNIX III, and became the de facto implementation of init, and still kind of is what first comes to mind when someone mentions the init process. Over the years, many different implementations of init popped up, such as runit, OpenRC, and Apple's launchd, created for macOS (which is actually a UNIX-like system), and even a rather remarkable little init called sinit implemented in less than 100 lines of C. Everything was good, all was peaceful, and the different inits all lived together in harmony. But all that changed when the fire nation attacked systemd entered the picture.

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Artix Linux

As mentioned above, one of the biggest criticisms of systemd was that it boxed users into a single way of doing things due to its architecture. A trend sprung up in the form of the init freedom movement, where protest distros were created specifically as systemd-free versions of popular distros. In 2012-2013, when Arch Linux and its derivative Manjaro switched to systemd, Arch OpenRC and Manjaro OpenRC were created as versions of their parent distros that still used OpenRC as their init system. These two distros were later merged into a single distro called Artix Linux, which (surprise!) sells itself on the fact that it doesn't use systemd. In 2017, Devuan, a systemd-free fork of Debian, was released, and touts itself as "allowing users to regain control over their system". You can even visit r/initFreedom for a taste of this movement right here on Reddit.

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Arch Linux

Systemd ignited controversy on its release. It was criticized for violating the abovementioned UNIX philosophy, as well as other software development best practices such as having a loosely coupled system architecture. By shipping a whole set of programs, all with different jobs, and all closely depending on each other (tight coupling), it becomes difficult for other programs to get in on the space, thereby in effect boxing users into a corner with only a single choice, as more and more software comes to depend on it. This also hinders portability, as programs become unable to function without it. Because of all these attributes, systemd began to be seen as the best (i.e. Easiest to administer) choice for Linux distros, and thus began seeing widespread adoption. It was first officially supported by Fedora (a distribution backed by Red Hat, and also serves as their testbed) in May 2011, and began spreading out from there. In February 2014, following a lengthy debate among its developers, Debian, one of the largest distributions of Linux, announced that its next release would ship with systemd as its init system. Earlier in 2012-13, one of the more notoriously hands-on (DIY) distros, Arch Linux (which is also a point of contention within the community but that's an entirely new can of worms), had made the switch to systemd. Canonical, the creators of Ubuntu (a Debian derivative), had tried their hand at creating their own init system (called Upstart) in 2006, and had some success, but they eventually caved and also made the switch to systemd. Today, almost all major Linux distributions in widespread use (with the exception of maybe Gentoo) use systemd as their init system. Other big software projects have also come to depend directly on systemd, such as the GNOME desktop environment (one of the many desktops available for Linux), which depends on systemd's login management.

#Linux #Linux Distribution #Operating Systems 256 social mentions