Ladies and gentlemen:

Let me first say I am here because I heard of this effort, and I would like
to watch it, perhaps offer some guidance and perspective, and thus
contribute.

I have been (off and on) a Unix Sysadmin since 1993 or so. My first
exposure was to Honeywell systems back in the mid 80s, but only as a user.
Later, I found myself "in the seat".

In those days, there were precious few books on the subject, nothing like
the support community we take for granted today, and very few options. We,
for example, were running A/UX, a Unix from apple, and that was the system
I learned to administer.

My mentor started me with a few thoughts:

- "Magically", the kernel gets loaded, and then runs. Worry about those
mechanics later.
- The kernel's first task is to run a process called init.
- The system is self-documenting through a command called "man", RTFM.
- Your first man page command should always be "man man", the second "man
init", then trace the system startup process.

The Unix philosophy is simplicity and minimalism; one program, one simple
task, and its standard is perfection. You want more, start with stringing
programs together with the shell, and if that doesn't work, learn C. This
philosophy has not changed (materially) since Ken and Dennis (I have had
the honor of meeting and chatting with both) came up with it in 1970 or
so. It's helped Unix become the world-class wonder that it is, and I see
no need to change the basic ideas.

I cannot tell you how many different commercial and later free (BSD or
Linux) systems I have deciphered based on nothing more than the above
guidance, nor how many professional sysadmins I have started on their path
the same way.

This adulteration which has become the init replacement, I will not mention
the name, is an abomination.

I have never chosen to run debian on one of my boxen when I had a choice,
but that was my choice. I have used debian since the very early days as a
professional, and have always been able to depend on it.


I agree with many of you that the ultimate goal should be choice.

If you want the abomination, choose or stick with (and live with) something
that uses it. Good Luck. Otherwise, we are (or IMNSHO) should be as the
natural progression of what was debian, and the original ideals.


Another way to think about it is that we should think of ourselves as
keeping the pure flame burning until the apostates see the true light.



I shall shortly change my 'scrip to digest, but monitor..... your thoughts
and feedback on my POV are welcome.



AL