Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: "Stefan G. Weichinger" <lists@×××××.at>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Linus Torvalds on systemd
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 18:32:15
Message-Id: 5419D3A0.30500@xunil.at
In Reply to: [gentoo-user] [OT] Linus Torvalds on systemd by "Canek Peláez Valdés"
1 Am 17.09.2014 um 18:06 schrieb Canek Peláez Valdés:
2 > This is highly off-topic, and systemd-related, so if you don't want
3 > your breakfast with a healthy amount of flames, skip it.
4 >
5 > iTWire posted an interview with Linus Torvalds[1], where the Big
6 > Penguin himself gave a succinct and pretty fair opinion on systemd.
7 > The gist of it can be resumed in two lines:
8 >
9 > "I don't personally mind systemd, and in fact my main desktop and
10 > laptop both run it."
11 >
12 > I post it here because several times in the last discussions about
13 > systemd, there was people asking what opinion Linus had about systemd.
14 > I personally don't think Linus particular opinion matters at all in
15 > this particular issue; in general people who likes systemd will
16 > continue to like it, and people who despises it will continue to do
17 > so, for any good, bad, real or imaginary reason. However, I *really*
18 > like several things Linus says in the interview; some juicy bits:
19 >
20 > • "So I think many of the "original ideals" of UNIX are these days
21 > more of a mindset issue than necessarily reflecting reality of the
22 > situation."
23 >
24 > • "There's still value in understanding the traditional UNIX "do one
25 > thing and do it well" model where many workflows can be done as a
26 > pipeline of simple tools each adding their own value, but let's face
27 > it, it's not how complex systems really work, and it's not how major
28 > applications have been working or been designed for a long time. It's
29 > a useful simplification, and it's still true at *some* level, but I
30 > think it's also clear that it doesn't really describe most of
31 > reality."
32 >
33 > • "...systemd is in no way the piece that breaks with old UNIX legacy."
34 >
35 > • " I'm still old-fashioned enough that I like my log-files in text,
36 > not binary, so I think sometimes systemd hasn't necessarily had the
37 > best of taste, but hey, details..[.]"
38 >
39 > • (About the "single-point-of-failure" "argument") "I think people are
40 > digging for excuses. I mean, if that is a reason to not use a piece of
41 > software, then you shouldn't use the kernel either."
42 >
43 > • "And there's a classic term for it in the BSD camps: "bikeshed
44 > painting", which is very much about how random people can feel like
45 > they have the ability to discuss superficial issues, because everybody
46 > feels that they can give an opinion on the color choice. So issues
47 > that are superficial get a lot more noise. Then when it comes to
48 > actual hard and deep technical decisions, people (sometimes) realise
49 > that they just don't know enough, and they won't give that the same
50 > kind of mouth-time."
51 >
52 > It's an interesting read; I highly recommend it.
53 >
54 > [1] http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/open-source/65402-torvalds-says-he-has-no-strong-opinions-on-systemd
55
56 thanks for the pointer ;-)
57
58 S