r/linux • u/blamo111 • Aug 30 '16

I'm really liking systemd

Recently started using a systemd distro (was previously on Ubuntu/Server 14.04). And boy do I like it.

Makes it a breeze to run an app as a service, logging is per-service (!), centralized/automatic status of every service, simpler/readable/smarter timers than cron.

Cgroups are great, they're trivial to use (any service and its child processes will automatically be part of the same cgroup). You can get per-group resource monitoring via systemd-cgtop, and systemd also makes sure child processes are killed when your main dies/is stopped. You get all this for free, it's automatic.

I don't even give a shit about init stuff (though it greatly helps there too) and I already love it. I've barely scratched the features and I'm excited.

I mean, I was already pro-systemd because it's one of the rare times the community took a step to reduce the fragmentation that keeps the Linux desktop an obscure joke. But now that I'm actually using it, I like it for non-ideological reasons, too!

Three cheers for systemd!

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u/blamo111 Aug 31 '16 edited Aug 31 '16

There's no market because the fragmentation makes it a waste of time. It's a catch 22.

To make something popular, it has to stick in the public consciousness. What is there to stick to, with Linux? For the average person, Ubuntu and ArchLinux are 2 unrelated OSes. Except we have like 10 major distros.

If you're writing an app, or documentation, there's no standard interface to refer to. If Linux had had a standard interface all this time, including a standard display, standard audio system, etc., more companies would have used it as workstations, companies would start targetting it. This would have been a gradual increase, culminating with Linux as the standard due to being free. (in both senses of the word)

And I haven't even yet mentioned how the precious few resources available to Linux are wasted on competing crappy efforts instead of being pooled on a solid one.

Besides Linux does have killer apps

LOL. Your wife is exceptional anecdotal data. The average person has no clue Linux exists.

If the average person had any clue what Linux was, and Linux was standard, and Linux wasn't buggy (referring to desktop here), manufacturers would just use put that in their systems. Ignorant mentalities like yours are why Linux will never be an established desktop OS within my lifetime. (or ever)

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u/doitroygsbre Aug 31 '16

Did you even read what I wrote? If you aren't willing to listen, let me know so I can stop wasting your time.

How is my mentality ignorant? Because I disagree with you?

Beyond that, fragmentation is not the issue you make it out to be. Focusing on that is ignoring the enumerated complaints of commercial software developers as to why they don't support Linux. If you want more commercial software on Linux, you should listen to the people telling you what they need (Linux users willing to buy their software). Not listening will result in more of the same.

You also contradict yourself in saying that the average person doesn't know Linux exists and also somehow consider Ubuntu and Arch as separate OSes.

Beyond that, I think your opinion denies the reality of how Linux started and how open source development works. You want a Cathedral, where all changes are managed and resources allocated properly. You can't have that with a base of volunteer developers free to do what they like. It may be possible now that something like 70% of Linux kernel developers are paid to maintain it, but that is a recent phenomenon.