this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2026
776 points (97.3% liked)

linuxmemes

32259 readers
1687 users here now

Hint: :q!


Sister communities:


Community rules (click to expand)

1. Follow the site-wide rules

2. Be civil
  • Understand the difference between a joke and an insult.
  • Do not harrass or attack users for any reason. This includes using blanket terms, like "every user of thing".
  • Don't get baited into back-and-forth insults. We are not animals.
  • Leave remarks of "peasantry" to the PCMR community. If you dislike an OS/service/application, attack the thing you dislike, not the individuals who use it. Some people may not have a choice.
  • Bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated. This is an LGBTQ+-friendly community -- if that is a problem for you, you should leave.
  • 3. Post Linux-related content
  • Including Unix and BSD.
  • Non-Linux content is acceptable as long as it makes a reference to Linux. For example, the poorly made mockery of sudo in Windows.
  • No porn, no politics, no trolling or ragebaiting.
  • Don't come looking for advice, this is not the right community.
  • 4. No recent reposts
  • Everybody uses Arch btw, can't quit Vim, <loves / tolerates / hates> systemd, and wants to interject for a moment. You can stop now.
  • 5. 🇬🇧 Language/язык/Sprache
  • This is primarily an English-speaking community. 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇺🇸
  • Comments written in other languages are allowed.
  • The substance of a post should be comprehensible for people who only speak English.
  • Titles and post bodies written in other languages will be allowed, but only as long as the above rule is observed.
  • 6. (NEW!) Regarding public figuresWe all have our opinions, and certain public figures can be divisive. Keep in mind that this is a community for memes and light-hearted fun, not for airing grievances or leveling accusations.
  • Keep discussions polite and free of disparagement.
  • We are never in possession of all of the facts. Defamatory comments will not be tolerated.
  • Discussions that get too heated will be locked and offending comments removed.
  •  

    Please report posts and comments that break these rules!


    Important: never execute code or follow advice that you don't understand or can't verify, especially here. The word of the day is credibility. This is a meme community -- even the most helpful comments might just be shitposts that can damage your system. Be aware, be smart, don't remove France.

    founded 3 years ago
    MODERATORS
    you are viewing a single comment's thread
    view the rest of the comments
    [–] decolo@piefed.social 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

    I understand that you personally are fine with it, but this is apparently a trigger for me, so please accept my apology in advance for offering commentary.

    • if you don't like it, you can use something else:

    This is only really true for desktop PC hobbyists. SteamOS is responsible for a huge spike of Linux usage recently and that is Systemd-only. it's true that you can install something else but it'll be a significantly worse user experience. This is the case for basically any handheld Linux device, and all corporate investment is going to systemd based distros.

    • if systemd starts to get bad, less people will use it:

    The alternatives are less polished and switching distros is a relatively costly proposition if you are not a hobbyist (in terms of opportunity cost and time spent without a functional computer). Handheld devices such as the steam deck are much less flexible as well.

    [–] BladeFederation@piefed.social 0 points 3 days ago

    I appreciate the apology in advance, but it is not necessary. I am happy to have a civilized conversation like we are having, even if we disagree.

    To my knowledge, the arguments against systemd boil down to:

    1. They recently added an option to ask for age verification, which distros do not have to use, and I believe they walked it back already.
    2. It goes against the values of Linux to have a singular project be responsible for many functions instead of doing one small thing well.
    3. It is large-ish for what it is, and could be more efficient with resources.

    Now I'm not here to tell you to care or not to care, that's your own prerogative. But think about the type of people who WOULD care, given the context? Is it gamers who bought a Steam Deck off the shelf and may not even know what Linux is? Or is it a specific subset of Linux enthusiasts who are a specific subset of PC enthusiasts who are a specific subset of people who use Linux machines? I think we can both agree it is the latter 99.9% of the time.

    To your second point, you have more or less invalidated the 3rd possibility of not liking systemd. It simply works better in most cases. Alternatives are not that much worse or anything, that's just what it is right now. COULD it potentially be better if it was the way we imagined it in our head? Maybe, but then just make your own version if you know how to make it better. But to really ANSWER your argument, by "less people will use it", I mostly mean distro devs. It got forked immediately after the slightest hint of age verification. If it becomes an actual problem, you can bet it will swiftly be replaced by most distros, and non-tech people will not even realize it happened. Especially if that subset of Linux enthusiasts who don't like it start jumping ship for others distros that don't have it. Things change allll the time in Linux. Nothing is irreplaceable or unforkable.