[chiglug] systemd

[Derek Pressnall]

I really like systemd in general, but there are a few things that gets me:
1) It isn't as transparent as rc files
When there is a problem, you can't just turn on -xv in the bash
scripts to see what all is going on.  And with the parallel startup
nature, it is hard to figure out which messages are related to a given
hang condition on startup.  Of course, there are systemd-specific
commands that can be use to diagnose issues, but that is an additional
learning curve (traditionally, there was an easy transition from
normal Unix admin skills to Linux).

Here's a real-world example that I ran into recently: the system
(Fedora 22 I believe) hung up in the middle of shutdown, giving me no
option other than a hard power off.  Apparently, I mounted a Windows
SMB file share manually, and systemd decided to cut the network off
before unmounting the share.  So the shutdown hung.  Now maybe I
should have added a line in /etc/fstab indicating this was a _netdev,
but I still should be able to temporarily mount a filesystem from the
command line.

2) Could systemd still do its magic if it wasn't PID 1?  That is, keep
a very simple traditional init, which then launches systemd that would
then own the bulk of the other services.  This would allow peace an
harmony between the old and new way of doing things.  But then again,
I imagine that systemd wouldn't be as useful if there were other
processes running outside of it.

Now, something I'd like to see added (if it can be done with the
existing systemd framework):  Could systemd intercept a console key
combination that brings up a (password-protected) rescue environment?
That way if there is a problem on startup or shutdown, this can be
used to at least help diagnose the issue.  The environment could be a
command shell with all the busybox commands pre-linked into it (so
that it wouldn't even require a mounted root image).

On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 9:01 AM, sten <me at sud0.com> wrote:
> Hey,
>
> So I'm trying to put together a presentation about systemd for people who
> have decided they have some sort of problem with systemd. I'd love for it to
> be conversational styled - me and someone (or someones) who wants to talk in
> front of people in favor of sysvinit or a different alternative.
>
> I talked to a couple folks 2 meetings ago, but I may have been overly
> confrontational about it, and I really want to hear what objections still
> remain.
>
> Drop me a note on- or off-list, let's see if we can come up with something
> together.
>
> -sten
>
>
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