[kwlug-disc] What is all this about systemd?

Ralph Janke txwikinger at ubuntu.com
Fri Jul 18 21:46:37 EDT 2014


I personally have not used Gnome for more than 10 years. And quite
frankly I do not understand why Gnome still exists. It is hilarious
that Gnome was originally started because of criticism of the Qt
licensing which KDE used (yes KDE existed before Gnome!!!). And
then they couple Mono so tightly into Gnome that you cannot run
it without the possibility of any day having to stop to use it
because Microsoft owns IP on the technology underlying Mono.

However, Gnome is also the example that I makes my point about choice.
Gnome is pushing a lot of the controversial changes, however, they
seem to lose more and more market share. So hopefully, either through
forking or through lack of support. In any case, I am actually sometimes
make the argument for more forking. I believe for at least 5 years, one
general kernel is not very good. I would like to have different kernels
for servers, and desktops. And actually mobile devices probably need 
another
one. That does not mean that there are lots of commonalities. More than 
90%
of the code can be shared. However, often 10% make all the difference.

On another note. Maybe this is an incentive to think and support Gnu 
Hurd
again a little more. For me, as a Computer Scientist, who has very 
intensively
researched concepts of OS, I am not convinced a monolithic kernel is the 
best
solution (Ref, Linus - Tannenbaum flame war). At this time, certainly we 
have
not seen a non-monolithic kernel that can beat or compete with the Linux 
kernel,
but this does not mean, it is not possible. With a non-monolithic 
kernel, a lot
of the criticism against sytemd and dbus in the kernel may be obsolete. 
Maybe
the frustration will revive the HURD movement and give them the 
necessary boost
and volunteers.

I also think we should see more desktops, I am very keenly monitoring 
the
Maui Project http://www.maui-project.org/ and the razor-qt project
http://razor-qt.org/ . I presume they at least as desktops will be 
decoupled
and hopefully give applications the necessary push not to be depended on 
a
couple of desktops no matter how big their market share.

On 2014-07-18 18:57, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 5:28 PM, Ralph Janke <txwikinger at ubuntu.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> One more point. What I am also worried about would be if
>> applications become dependent on dbus and systemd. In the end, I do
>> need certain applications and if they are so tightly bound on such
>> technologies that they do not work without it anymore, it would be
>> as bad, as if they are tightly coupled inside the kernel.
> 
> That is exactly my point: no choice, and the FLOS camp dominates. It
> is not about which is better per se. If the FLOS camp are doing their
> own thing, but I have choice not to use their stuff, then I am happy,
> and let them do what they think is better.
> 
> If I need A, but A depends on B, and B depends on C, and I don't like
> C, I have no choice. If things are decoupled or loosely coupled, then
> we get to chose any lego block to fit. But if it only has one other
> piece to fit, then we are forced to build things The One True Way
> (tm).
> 
> Gnome (which I do not use) is already dependent on systemd. Now we are
> seeing tight coupling, and we will eventually move into more of a
> monoculture, which has many downsides, including easier targeting for
> malicious attacks.
>  --
> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
> 2bits.com [1], Inc.
> Fast Reliable Drupal
> Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
> Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
>  Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
> For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple,
> and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://2bits.com
> 
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-- 
txwikinger

Long live free/libre software





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