Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by sph 858 days ago
All the major distros, especially server distros, run systemd. That is proof enough that NOT running systemd is a niche and unsupported configuration in any half-serious setup.

A conjecture is not automatically wrong. The point of a conjecture is to challenge someone else to prove it wrong. You'd have a hard time showing proof that systemd is niche.

And honestly, it does not break UNIX, let's be serious now. A haphazard bunch of shell scripts is not much better than a monolithic binary, and UNIX does not give a damn either way.

I do not care about dogma and philosophy, I am an engineer with software to run and deadlines to meet.
2 comments
Koshkin 858 days ago
> I am an engineer with software to run and deadlines to meet.

Sure, but UNIX, with its minimalist philosophy, was - luckily for us! - not created under that slogan. With respect to quality, this slogan has always been the one driving its decrease that we see all around us today.

link
sph 858 days ago
UNIX was created by engineers to run software, not as a philosophical device.

Sorry to say, yours is a terrible excuse. I respect that you might not like systemd, no software is perfect and systemd has many flaws, but the "think of the UNIX philosophy" is righteous nonsense that I cannot take seriously.

The real world is not black-and-white, with or against us. One of the most beloved UNIX tools, Emacs, is as far removed from the minimalist philosophy that some have decided to be UNIX's crowning achievement. It is not. Linux and UNIX have not won because we're all into minimalism, or dogmatic zealotry.

link
Koshkin 858 days ago
To be fair, "Unix philosophy" was originated by said engineers themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy

Speaking of emacs, it was created outside Unix, to be later reincarnated by Stallman as part of his "GNU's Not Unix" project.

link
e12e 858 days ago
> A haphazard bunch of shell scripts is not much better than a monolithic binary

If know shell scripts you can read and adapt the former. You can keep the state in vcs without needing a compile artifact or a compiler.

How much work is it to add a bespoke feature to systemd?

It's a tradeoff for sure, but let's not pretend simplicity has no benefits.

And knowledge of Cron transfers to the bsds.

link