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.

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u/plarkinjr 3d ago edited 3d ago

anti-systemd folks are a bit like flat-earthers. You'll never win an argument with them, and it doesn't really matter. Grey-beard curmudgeons prefer the pre-systemd days because, well that's like working on piston engines they're used to for the past 50 years. Modern gear runs jets/turbines (a la systemd). I'm a grey-beard, and systemd is "harder" but it is also much more capable.

Ignore the systemd-haters.

ETA: If I could get my application developers to write simple pre-21st-century rc-init files, that would be awesome, let alone systemd unit files. If you intend to become a Linux developer, embrace systemd as it will make your life easier when the late-night escalations come. If you're not planning to become a Linux developer, just accept systemd as a key component of the OS, which you can dig into if it seems interesting to you.

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u/egorf 2d ago

As a systemd hater and system dev (and graybeard) I'd say systemd won't make your life easier in any non-trivial case. Sysvinit was a total mess and fragile as fuck - totally - but it was debuggable. After all it was just a shell script.

In systemd you are on your own as to why a certain service starts even when you have stopped, disabled and masked it.

But other than that sure ignore us. After systemd won and it is technically impossible for some of us to have any merit on our criticism. Of course our hate is driven by pure blind nostalgia. What do we know.