On Wed, 4 Nov 2015 08:08:46 +0000
KatolaZ <katolaz@???> wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 03, 2015 at 08:51:47PM -0000,
> dev1fanboy@??? wrote:
>
>
> [cut]
>
> >
> > Now you should simply reboot so that you are using the kernel
> > shipped with Devuan:
> >
> > root@devuan:~# reboot
> >
>
> Thank you very much. Very nice guide, but please: do not urge people
> to reboot, ever.

I disagree. More in a minute...

>
> It seems to me that the systemd hype is pushing forward a generation
> of people who (erroneously) think that rebooting is the solution,
> especially because with some very ugly systemd bugs, rebooting is the
> *only* solution. It's important for us to say clearly and to prove
> that a functioning Unix system does not neet to be rebooted at all,
> ever, for any reason.

I'll tell you one reason I'll reboot: Troubleshooting. With many
difficult problems, you have no idea how much the current performance
is affected by state caused by past software events. When you're not
sure of the role of state, diagnostic tests become misleading, and you
can go over the same territory many times, getting different results
each time. Minutes can stretch to hours or maybe (urk) days.

Reboot (with power off) restores you to a known state. Every time.
No matter what (unless files are involved, and those can be saved and
backed up). I occasionally sacrifice 2 minutes rebooting, to guarantee
myself that I don't go down a 1 hour rabbit hole.

Now of course, if I'm troubleshooting a system serving hotel
reservations to millions of people, I'd reboot only as the very last
resort. I'd build a parallel system and exploit the differences or
similarities rather than rebooting. But if it's my own desktop or a
server that's already down for repair, often rebooting decreases
Mean Time To Repair.

Rebooting is a cost/benefit tradeoff when it comes to troubleshooting.

SteveT

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