Re: [gentoo-user] Is there any way out of this...?

[Tom Wijsman]

On Sat, 7 Dec 2013 12:46:34 +0100
Róbert Čerňanský <openhs@×××××××××.com> wrote:

> That is actually what I have asked just a few days ago in thread
> "Systemd as drop-in replacement for udev?" and here I have another
> answer. :-)

`grep systemd /usr/portage/virtual/udev/udev-208.ebuild` confirms from
the Portage view that systemd is a provider of udev functionality.

Since I do not have another udev package besides systemd, I can confirm
you that systemd provides udev; if I reboot to OpenRC, udev continues
to work. So, yes, you can use it as a drop-in replacement.

> > This is the actual problem, which I have already covered; just
> > enable the openrc-force USE flag on
> > =gnome-base/gnome-settings-daemon-3.8.6.1 or alternatively mask
> > >=gnome-base/gnome-settings-daemon-3.8.
> >
> > You need to put -openrc-force in /etc/portage/profile/use.mask to
> > start with and then you can toggle it as you see fit. As you don't
> > intend to run GNOME as far as I understood, this USE flag doesn't
> > need to be masked for you.
>
> What about the message in gnome-settings-daemon ebuild?
>
> "gnome-settings-daemon needs Systemd to be *running* for working
> properly. ..."

That message is broad and does not detail what you need it for, you'll
find that parts of it continue whereas others don't; if you don't need
to run GNOME itself, then you probably do not need most of the parts
that gnome-settings-daemon has to offer.

> Also, Canek in the thread I have mentioned wrote:
>
> "The GNOME stuff that requires systemd will not work under OpenRC from
> 3.10 on, you could get strange fails with gdm and
> gnome-settings-daemon."

I cannot confirm whether they have tightened the integration.

> So *I think* for the long run, if not using GNOME, it could be better
> to get rid GNOME applications (in my case it was just GDM) and be
> free to choose either of systemd, udev or eudev OR fully migrate to
> systemd (and be able to use GNOME apps).

I've switched to systemd while I was on XFCE, just because I have a
preference for how its usage and I was looking for ways to decrease my
boot time (due to kernel testing, not for bragging rights); I've
actually switched in a time that GNOME 3.6 - 3.8 was broken on me due to
some RandR incompatibility causing the login screen to break.

After I pinpointed that bug and upstream fixed that bug I could use 3.8
again, after not having used GNOME since 3.4; I was happy to be back.
If it weren't for the news, I wouldn't even have noticed the systemd
dependency being present; I just don't see reason to switch away from
GNOME or systemd so all I can see:

    Try different things and see what you like, don't listen to others.

XFCE is now my favorite go-to DE if my main DE breaks; if XFCE broke as
well, I'm going to question whether I still want to continue using
Gentoo. Given that I'm not the type of person that would use KDE or one
of the minimal DE or WM's out there...

Just a side story of how I got hooked on systemd without being forced
to use it and how I'm hooked on GNOME despite it being broken by one or
two lines of code that don't take my odd system hardware into account:

    YMMV, there's not a single piece of software that fits everyone...

If you had bad experiences with GNOME and absolutely don't want it;
then yes, I think getting rid of associated applications is the way
forward as to avoid having to go through unnecessary maintenance by the
changes that might happen with their dependencies.

PS: This does not imply that I consider other init systems or DEs as
bad; I would switch to OpenRC if logid would be forked and boot time
decreased (although Patrick demonstrated in a blog post you can lower it
quite a lot), I'm also packaging a minimal init system soon. As for
other DEs, I have simply not tried them long enough to judge them...

-- 
With kind regards,

Tom Wijsman (TomWij)
Gentoo Developer

E-mail address  : TomWij@g.o
GPG Public Key  : 6D34E57D
GPG Fingerprint : C165 AF18 AB4C 400B C3D2  ABF0 95B2 1FCD 6D34 E57D