SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Controversy is nothing new when it comes to systemd. Many people find this new Linux init system to be inherently flawed in most ways, yet it is still gaining traction with major distros like Arch Linux, openSUSE, Fedora, and soon both Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux. The adoption of systemd for Debian 8 "Jessie" has been particularly fraught with strife and animosity.
Some have described the systemd adoption process as having been a "coup", while others are vowing to stick with Debian 7 as long as possible before moving to another distro. Others are so upset by what they see as a complete betrayal of the Debian and open source communities that there is serious discussion about forking Debian. Regardless of one's stance toward systemd, it cannot be argued that it has become one of the most divisive and disruptive changes in the long history of the Debian project, threatening to destroy both the project and the community that has built up around it.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by tempest on Sunday September 28 2014, @02:47PM
If systemd becomes that widespread, I'd assume Gentoo and Slack will see a surge in uptake. At that point no systemd becomes a core feature people want in the distro, and I'd assume many more would put the effort in to keep it that way.
I'm mostly a BSD user, but Linux fighting against systemd is very important for the BSDs as well. As desktop enviornments and software become dependant on systemd, they become inherintly non portable. Gnome 3 has pretty much written themselves off as Linux only. It's easy to sit back and laugh at the latest Linux cunundrum (one of the perks of being a BSD user), but in the process of fleeing systemd, you may find much of the software you want will no longer run on ANYTHING without it (Linux included).
Also the "BSDs have no hardware support" thing is overblown in my opinion, so I wouldn't let that discourage you from trying it if you want to. One thing I don't think we need are Linux refugees, the people who use Linux because they hate windows, but now use BSD because they hate Linux. Use BSD because you love it :)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @07:28PM
I use Debian now, but I'm going to be switching to Gentoo.
Systemd is actually a good litmus test of how sensible a distro's leadership is, as a collective. Smart leadership will, collectively, not put up with systemd. They'll be able to see its insurmountable technical flaws, as well as the way it can totally divide and devastate a distro's community. Debian's community is in tatters now thanks to systemd and how it has been forced on so many unwilling participants.
I can't trust Debian, as a project, any longer. If they made such an obviously bad decision in this case, I can't help but think that they're making similarly bad choices when it comes to other decisions, some of which I may not even be aware of.
Since I can't trust Debian, I can't trust the software they put out. The only sane thing for me to do is switch to a distro that hasn't gone all stupid and started using systemd.