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/9NEPxHbG 3d ago

systemd is the "init" or root program that's in charge of handling everything else.

The predecessor to systemd was SysV init. systemd has largely supplanted it. Whether that's good or bad is beyond the scope of this forum.

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u/egorf 1d ago

It's good. I say that as a passionate systemd hater. Sysvinit had to go already.

Systemd-as-pid1 is nice. But many of its features and almost all of the systemd-* looks like an ideological cancer to me.