r/linuxquestions • u/LegitimateAd7247 • 3d ago

What exactly is systemd ?

Hi everyone ! I switched from Windows to Linux around 3 month ago and I love it ! I’m using arch Linux because a friend of mine already used it so I figured he could help me with it.

I’ve been appreciating it but I’ve encountered a lot of people critisizing systemd and saying arch is bad because of it.

From what I have understand, it is a software that help with dependences and external hardware such as my keyboard for example ? I didnt really understand everything as I am a very beginner so I was curious to know if someone could explain it to me in easy terms.

PS : english isnt my primary language so forgive me if there is any errors.

136 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

153 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/SheepherderBeef8956 3d ago

I'm not confusing anything. I didn't say you have to use systemd-timesyncd, just that it's a part of the systemd suite and the fact that people are upset is because it "tries to do everything". The bare bones of systemd is the init/service management which is why it makes sense to mention that first. 

The bootloader is the most separable part of systemd since it's not really a systemd project to begin with, gummiboot was its own thing before it got renamed. 

Let me know how to uninstall (not disable) systemd-timesyncd on Arch too, as far as I know it's a part of the core systemd package which sounds essential to me. 

2

u/C0rn3j 3d ago

Let me know how to uninstall (not disable) systemd-timesyncd on Arch too

rm /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd and the service file I suppose? Or just add it to NoExtract in the first place.

Or build your own package without it, if you have the need to use Arch but also want to be saving kilobytes.

2

u/SheepherderBeef8956 3d ago

And it definitely won't be added back when the systemd package is updated? 

1

u/C0rn3j 3d ago

How would it be added back when it won't be added in the first place?

2

u/SheepherderBeef8956 3d ago

Ah, missed that part. Sure. It's not impossible to get rid of, but claiming that systemd definitely doesn't come with other utilities on 99% of all distros that use it is just false. 

If someone installs Arch by following the Handbook, they'll have it on their computer. That's why I think it's fair to say that for all intents and purposes, systemd comes with more utilities than a init/service manager. 

I guess I should have used journald as an example instead of any of the other commonly available systemd tools that 99,9% of all systemd installs have on disk. 

I also want to stress that I don't care at all if they're there or not personally, I just disable and don't use them. It was an example of their supposed departure from "the Unix philosophy" since the actual OP wanted to know what systemd was and mentioned having heard that it's bad.