On 07/19/2016 06:10 PM, Rick Moen wrote:
> Saying libsystemd0 'does something' merely because higher-layer GNOME
> code probed it for a function and then decided to do or not do something
> based on what it found (my high-confidence surmise about your gvfs
> anecdote) entails very peculiar construing of the verb 'to do' -- and
> I'm pretty sure hardly anyone else uses the verb quite that way.


Oh, you must have missed my last report. Surely, you would agree that
executing an executable file is doing something.

For the past two years, people have been saying that libsystemd0 is just a
library, and it does nothing if systemd is not installed or not running.
I've been skeptical of such claims, but until yesterday, I wasn't sure.
Neither one of those claims is accurate. Among the files that the
libsystemd0 package provides, at least two of them are executable files.
There may be more that aren't located in /lib/systemd/.

Here it is again.

> One more test - instead of 'chmod -R 000 /lib/systemd' I tried 'chmod -x
> /lib/systemd/systemd-udevd' thus disabling an executable binary file that
> libsystemd0 provides. Dropped to runlevel 1, ctrl-d to return to desktop,
> and removable drives no longer appear on the desktop.

I suppose it's possible that gvfs just checks for the executable bit on
/lib/systemd/systemd-udevd and doesn't actually run that program, but I
doubt that.

To summarize: libsystemd0 runs its program(s) even when systemd is not
installed.

-fsr