this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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the wikipedia article summarizes very well the concerns of the community, mainly under the "Reception" section.
Comparing someone's Linux software with windows software is probably the worst insult you give give a Linux dev.
But yeah that makes sense, it's just kind of bloated and has more features than it needs.
Also a lot of other libraries depend on systemd?
I can understand now, Linux has always been about options and systemd is making it harder for people to chose different options.
Okay, other than “I believe it’s against the Unix Philosophy” and “hypothetically it will become bloated”, is there anything else worth knowing?
Stuff like that.
Edit: yees, Gentoo & co. support Systemd or Openrc. But that one is mostly service management and was designed as a drop-in, doesn't count.
The sad part is, some of it's nicer new features create further dependencies, won't get implemented in a independent way.
Thank you for the thorough technical explanation, it is clear there are challenges for devs and I understand why the pushback exists now.
As an end user these are things I haven’t felt, are essentially invisible to me so I never felt the need to run away from systemd.
Thanks again.
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It’s not really mandatory, but I take your point.
I guess it’s the choice between many minor programs running in tandem, potentially only held together by a few maintainers, or an init system that unifies all those programs under one flag, with multiple maintainers including corporations, but the chance for it to get enshittified.
I personally have no choice of init system since I use NixOS. But I also don’t necessarily think the death of the personal computer will come from an init system, it will sooner come from hardware becoming unavailable/too expensive for individuals to buy (basically what we are seeing happen now).
There's always Guix for a declarative system without systemd :)
I’m aware, I just don’t care enough about this particular beef.
Systems works well for me, and in order to get my configuration up to what it is today on NixOS (what I need it to be) I’d have to install multiple proprietary/non-free software/drivers on Guix anyway.
In a roundabout way I’d end up in the same spot.