[ale] What divides Linux Distros?

[Steve Litt]

On Sat, 6 Feb 2021 10:07:37 -0500
DJ-Pfulio via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> On 2/6/21 2:10 AM, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:
> > On Fri, 05 Feb 2021 20:55:50 -0500
> > Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> >   
> >> I LIKE systemd. Best tool yet for getting a ton of crap running on
> >> a huge array of bare metal and virtual. About as complex as tar.
> >>
> >> Some people just can't wrap their head around and bitch nonstop.   
> > 
> > Try runit. Or s6.
> >   
> 
> I'm not a fan of systemd, but why would I change distros just for a 
> different init? 

Because it takes a huge amount of work to replace systemd with any
other init, so the only practical way to be systemd free is to change
distros.

With almost all other software, it's trivial to substitute one software
for another of the same category. I couldn't understand peoples leaving
Ubuntu when (IMHO grossly inferior) Unity became their default user
interface, because it was trivial to install almost any other WMDE
(Window Manager/Desktop Environment).

> I'm still waiting for PulseAudio to work 

You've had that problem too? Four months ago had to install Pulseaudio
in order to get Zoom to work. The moment I installed Pulseaudio, half
my sound apps ceased working. Worse yet, the state of sound was
stateful --- the sound would come and go depending on what I ran.

> and struggle
> to make systemd do what I want beyond pre-installed stuff. I miss the 
> days of init.d/ scripts - at least then I could tell when something 
> would be run. 

Try runit. It's better than either systemd or sysvinit. And you can run
runit on top of systemd, and have runit supervise all your home-grown
daemons.

> And don't get me started about how systemd has screwed the fstab and 
> made running fsck 100x harder by removing the touch /forcefsck 
> capability.
> 
> Still, some things aren't worth it to me. There may be hundreds of 
> distros, but in the business world, there are maybe 5. Trying to 
> suggest running anything except one of those 5 is counter productive.
> What do those 5 distros all have in common?  They use systemd and
> they are the most popular distros.  I'd have just as much luck
> pushing a BSD desktop - i.e. none.

I know people who are running Devuan in business settings. It's
corporationally correct enough that you can get away with it. Now my
favorate distro, Void Linux, would never be allowed in any big business.

> Sure. I can understand that some people can and will avoid systemd.
> That's great.  Let me know when one of those 5 most-popular distros 
> drops it.

Debian dropped it, in the form of Devuan.

> Redhat/IBM giving away RHEL for small needs is both good and bad for 
> Linux. It is sorta like how Microsoft nearly gives away MS-SBS.  As 
> soon as a small company's needs outgrow about 50 users, they are 
> already trapped. Trapped by current skills. Trapped by comfort.  And 
> it will make every school training IT people use RHEL, so all those 
> people will run it at their homes. Brilliant, just like a drug dealer 
> with "the first taste is free" promotions.
> 
> IMHO.

It's my opinion too.
 
SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2020 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/thrive