Nate Bargmann <n0nb@???> wrote:

> I'll add my voice to the chorus objecting to the idea that removal of
> systemd is for servers only.

I don't think anyone has suggested it's for servers only.
But, there is an argument for picking the low hanging fruit - and that means trying to do the "easy" bits first. I've not really followed it in detail, but from what I've read it does seem that the desktop environments have been the most tightly bound to systemd.
IMO it makes sense to try and get a "non desktop" system sorted, and then tackle the harder problem of getting the desktop stuff cleansed.

> Right now with Debian Jessie systemd must be installed to make the
> desktop anywhere near functional, but that is a result of packaging
> decisions by Debian ...

I don't think it's so much a packaging decision by Debian, more a case of what the upstream devs have done. The Debian decision was (AIUI) "we don't have the resources to remove the crap" - not a decision to add it, just a realisation that the project couldn't remove it with the time and resources available.
I did note some rather naive suggestions that somehow it would be possible to remove it later. I'd be surprised if the resources increased, and it'll be a lot harder to remove stuff now they've allowed packagers to add "gratuitous" systemd dependencies.