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: 2) by tonyPick on Sunday September 28 2014, @04:53PM
I have to say I think that's a bit of a Tin-Foil-Hat stance.
If you read around the thread you can see I'm far from convinced about systemd (to put it mildly), but I think that it's fairly clear that the developers think they're doing the best they can for the problems they have, and that they *are* taking a lot of uninformed flack which makes them prone to be... undiplomatic at times.
And there *is* a lot of cool stuff in systemd, and some nice ideas, it's just I think the way it's being made into a system wide dependency is the wrong approach. I'd like a new init, and the systemd folks want, in their own words
systemd is in the process of becoming a comprehensive, integrated and modular platform providing everything needed to bootstrap and maintain an operating system’s userspace.
and
Choosing systemd means redefining more closely what the Linux platform is about.
Neither of which I'm a fan of.
Or, if you want to put it more cynically, in the words of Humbert Wolfe:
You cannot hope to bribe or twist,
thank God! the British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there's no occasion to.