[Discuss] Debian adds another systemd dependency, Busybox drops it

[slitt at troubleshooters.com (Steve Litt)]

On Tue, 3 Nov 2015 10:17:36 -0500
Rich Pieri <richard.pieri at gmail.com> wrote:

> Within the past few days, Debian have added another hard dependency
> on systemd in sid. This time it is the Xorg server which is no longer 
> setuid. In order to make this work they implemented a hard dependency
> on libpam-systemd along with a bunch of other onerous restrictions.
> At least this time around they also created a legacy dpkg that
> retains the old behavior.

I think we all expected this, and most of us expect more entanglements
to follow.

> 
> If you have systemd pinned with a priority of -1 then the
> libpam-systemd dependency will not be installed. The legacy package
> still needs to be installed manually.

At some point, those not wanting systemd on their system will be forced
to stop coathangering the package manager and move to a sans-systemd
distro. Here are some distros I know about that not only don't use
systemd as PID1, but have pledged not to do so in the future:

* Devuan
* Funtoo
* Void Linux
* Manjaro-OpenRC
* Crux

> Meanwhile, Busybox developer Denys Vlasenko has removed what little 
> support for systemd existed in Busybox because, "systemd people are
> not willing to play nice with the rest of the world. Therefore there
> is no reason for the rest of the world to cooperate with them."

Now that the war of words is over, a lot of very smart people are
surgically removing systemd, and it's being noticed. And they're all
doing it for basically the reason Denys Vlasenko voiced.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
November 2015 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques
     of the Successful Technologist
http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques