Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: systemd? [ Was: The End Is Near ... ]
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:00:21
Message-Id: 20120319225822.GA13451@waltdnes.org
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: systemd? [ Was: The End Is Near ... ] by Alan McKinnon
1 On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 12:35:26AM +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote
2
3 > > systemd is like Captain Picard of STTNG (Start Trek The Next
4 > > Generation) always saying "make it so". *HOW DO YOU "MAKE IT SO"?
5 > > That intelligence has to be somewhere. So what alternative do you
6 > > propose? A bash or ash script is more guaranteed to run than a
7 > > binary. Shoving all that "intelligence" into the service itself,
8 > > means that the service has to start up in order to determine whether
9 > > it's safe for the service to start up. What's wrong with this
10 > > picture?
11 >
12 > The intelligence goes in the init system's config file for that service
13 > of course. I know I didn't clearly say so, but that's where it goes.
14
15 The config file can specify upper/lower limits, variables, settings,
16 etc, etc. But in the end, some executable somewhere is going to have to
17 parse the config file, check the actual environment, and decide whether
18 or not to launch the service, and with what parameters.
19
20 Note also that many open source programs are multiplatform. I.e. they
21 run on FreeDOS with DJGPP, multiple flavours of Windows, multiple BSDs
22 (including Apple), linux, and multiple commercial unix flavours. Do you
23 really want to throw multiple platform-specific IFDEFs into the program
24 code to allow the services to do the appropriate platform-specific
25 initialization? Isn't it be easier to move the service setup out of the
26 main service, and let the maintainers of the specific platforms figure
27 it out?
28
29 One last question. Let's go back in time 20 years, and assume that
30 you're the maintainer for a program that runs as a service. A small
31 handfull of end-users come along. They're running a "hobby OS" that
32 fits on a couple floppies. Said "hobby OS" has been cobbled together by
33 a university student. Would you...
34 * download that university student's hobby OS, and install it
35 * throw in a bunch of additional IFDEF initialization code in your program
36 * test and debug the program to make sure it runs under that OS
37
38 --
39 Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org>

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: systemd? [ Was: The End Is Near ... ] Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com>