Re: About choice

Tanguy — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 12:42:00 +0000

This is a reply to Josselin Mouette's blog article About choice, since his blog does not seem to accept comments¹.

Please note that this is not meant to be systemd-bashing, just a criticism base one a counter-example refutation of Josselin's implication that there is no use case better covered by SysV init: this is false, as there is at least one. And yes, there are probably many cases better covered by systemd, I am making no claims about that.

A use case better covered by SysV init: encrypted block devices

So, waiting for a use case better covered by SysV init? Rejoice, you will not die waiting, here is one: encrypted block devices. That case works just fine with SysV init, without any specific configuration, whereas systemd just sucks at it. There exist a way to make it work², but:

if systemd requires specific configuration to handle such a case, whereas SysV init does not, that means this case is better covered by SysV init;
that work around does not actually work.

If you know any better, I would be glad to try it. Believe me, I like the basic principles of systemd³ and I would be glad to have it working correctly on my system.

Notes

Well, it does accept comments, but marks them as span and does not show them, which is roughly equivalent. ↑
Installing an additional piece of software, Plymouth, is supposed to make systemd work correctly with encrypted block devices. Yes, this is additional configuration, as that piece of software does not come when you install systemd, and it is not even suggested so a regular user cannot guess it. ↑
Though I must say I hate the way it is pushed into the GNU/Linux desktop systems. ↑

Tanguy Ortolo - Replies

Re: About choice

A use case better covered by SysV init: encrypted block devices

Notes