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  • 8 Posts
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Joined 8 days ago
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Cake day: April 29th, 2026

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  • You’re right that the GNU toolchain is massive, but the distinction lies in "modularity versus integration". GNU tools are a collection of separate programs that happen to work together, you can swap bash for zsh or ls for busybox without breaking the whole system. systemd, however, is a tightly coupled suite where the init, logging, networking, and DNS are interdependent.

    The idea of Linux isn’t just about running big software, it’s about the ability to compose a system from independent parts.

    When a single project dictates the entire stack and makes it nearly impossible to replace just one component without rewriting half the OS, that crosses the line from toolchain to platform lock-in, which is a fundamentally different threat to user freedom than a collection of large but separable GNU utilities.






  • Idk. about the Linux idea and the freedom being at risk.

    imagine this, you’re a windows user ready to make the jump, you’re looking at different distros and they’re all have a systemd init system.

    you finally choose a distro and make the jump, you use ur os for a few months and you feel ready to explore the vast universe of different distros with different flavors, you had a great experience after all.

    and then you switch to something like void Linux, technically able people will have no problem switching to this but someone who is used to the convince of systemd just because “it works” might just go back to what they’re comfortable with, this doesn’t encourage exploration and freedom of choice because systemd does everything for you and the apps you love and use might not be compatible with something other than systemd unless you heavily tweak things.

    You’ve chosen another init system, they’ve chosen theirs -hopefully- for technical reasons.

    Totally agree with you on this, not saying people shouldn’t choose their init system, they’re free to do so.


  • It’s Open Source. Nobody needs to use it

    I didn’t mention anything about people needing to use it.

    You have distros that have communal decision making, and if they find a benefit to systemd, then they’ll use systemd. Don’t use that distro if you don’t like it. There’s your freedom of choice.

    I don’t have an issue with distros using systemd, my issue lies in how major distributions implemented systemd without other options, which created an environment where app developers have to build for the most common init system in mind, you don’t think that’s an issue? having apps only compatible with one init system like how some apps are only compatible with windows, that’s not libre, its still pushing users towards a specific obvious choice