[Info-vax] CRTL and RMS vs SSIO

[Lawrence D’Oliveiro]

On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 11:36:00 PM UTC+13, chris wrote:
> To each his own, but the reason why I dumped Linux forever was over the 
> systemd disaster. A seemingly modern replacement for the init startup 
> system. Tt now looks more like a mini kernel with the kernel, with 
> it's tentacles into every part of the system. Looked to me like a power 
> grab by Redhat, to control the future direction of Linux, but call me 
> paranoid if you must.

There are no such things as “power grabs” in Free software. You are Free to choose, and the reason why there are 300-over Linux distros is precisely because it is so easy to exercise that choice. There are even quite a few options with no systemd in them.

Myself, I have found that systemd makes many things easier to do. For example, writing a .service file is a lot easier than creating an entire init script.

> Sun's Solaris also has layered system control 
> overlay, as does FreeBSD, but leaves all the original files intact, so 
> for example, you can still read the log file in text format.

Debian systems currently (by default) run parallel text-based syslogs as well as the systemd journal.

Here’s one fun thing: text-based logfiles have their timestamps in the “system” timezone, which is a pretty nebulous concept on a *nix system. (Consider someone remoting from one part of the world, into a server in a different part, in response to a customer problem report originating in yet another part, logged in their local timezone.) The systemd journal records everything in UTC, and you can easily display entries in any timezone, just by setting “TZ=«timezone»” at the front of the command.

> Linux is far too bloated and all things to all men these days, rather than a 
> technically efficient OS.

I don’t why you say that, when it has always been possible to build custom kernels that include only the features that you need. Remember, it runs happily on something as low-powered as the Raspberry π.

> Been running FreeBSD for a few years now and like breath of fresh air in software
> engineering terms.

Seems like their development is mainly dominated by one company these days, with perhaps a less-than-admirable attitude to code quality and security <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/buffer-overruns-license-violations-and-bad-code-freebsd-13s-close-call/> ...