On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 11:35:07 +0000
Eugene Bolshakoff <mercurius@???> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> This is something like "philosophical" post about our future in
> poettering universe.
>
> Working as system administrator, I am thinking about it, because of
> more and more Linux distributives switching to should-not-be-named
> daemon.
>
> And, of course, servers will be updated in few years, and it becames
> impossible to avoid using poettering things in everyday work. I can
> avoid it on my own workstations and servers, but I will be forced to
> use binary logging in journald, logind and so on if my company
> updates its servers to new Linux distros.

Hi Eugene

If you're "forced" to use systemd, it will be because your employer
forces you to use it, not because it would be technically impossible.
First, your employer could switch to gentoo, funtoo, or devuan, and you
can quit worrying.

But let's say they use Debian or Centos. You can install your own init.
Check out this document:

http://troubleshooters.com/linux/diy/suckless_init_on_plop.htm

I installed a 16 line C program as PID1, used daemontools-encore (with
the LittKit shellscripts) to manage system initialization and
processes, and ran Linux from it. When you install an init system that
simple, it changes you. You're no longer intimidated by the whole
concept of init. You know what it is, and how to troubleshoot it.

When you use any init that does process supervision via any
daemontools-inspired program, and that means daemontools,
daemontools-encore, runit, s6, nosh and perp, you get no binary logs,
and your logs are easily and sensibly controlled.

The thing that makes it easy for you, personally, Eugene, is you're
doing a server. You don't need to get networkmanagter running, or
Gnome, or Pulseaudio, or any of the usual subjects that just can't live
without some form of systemd.

I look in my crystal ball and predict that if you are "forced" to use
systemd, it will be via the policies of your employers, not some
technical hurdle that can't be overcome.

> Developers should support new startup schemes and new logging
> features.
>
> My colleagues and friends working with Linux don't think about this as
> about something bad and strange, a lot of people are able (or are
> forced) to switch, they talk about it as about something everyday.

I'd also think of it as everyday, if not for:

1) I repaired consumer audio once upon a time.
2) I programmed computers (for a living) once upon a time.
3) I've been involved in politics.

As a stereo repair guy, I found just how easily repairable something is
if it does one thing and does it well. No-amp turntables, tuners,
amplifiers. And I found out how repairability degrades with monolithic
entanglement: Those "all in one" units with turntable, radio, amp,
cassette deck and speakers in the same box, sometimes even on the same
circuit board. I learned the repairability advantages of standard,
simple interfaces. Connections were made with RCA cables: No brains
required. Swapping and measuring were trivial. In monolithically
entangled units, those same interfaces could be traces on a circuit
board: How do you troubleshoot that?

After stereo repair, I became a developer, and discovered that my stuff
was more robust and more repairable if I constructed it as a bunch of
"do one thing and do it well" sections, ***tied together with
standard, simple interfaces***, not uber-complicated APIs or library
objects (unless the API or library object is really needed). Piping,
intermediate files, fifos, these are thin, standard interfaces easily
measured and swapped, allowing each separately compiled (and therefore
memory encapsulated) process to do one thing and do it well.
Troubleshooting is just a matter of measuring and swapping.

It would be offtopic to discuss my politics on this list, but suffice
it to say I've been in political movements and demonstrations in the
70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, and 10's. And this has given me a certain point
of view. When someone does something harmful, non-political people's
first reaction is "Hanlon's Razor". In the same circumstance, political
people's first reaction is "follow the money."

If it hadn't been for my audio repair and programming careers, and my
awareness of politics, I would be just like your friends and collegues,
thinking that systemd is no big deal, or perhaps welcoming its lengthy
list of features.

SteveT

Steve Litt
June 2015 featured book: The Key to Everyday Excellence
http://www.troubleshooters.com/key