What are some significant differences to expect when switching to an alternative, and can that affect gaming compatibility and performance?
systemd…works fine for me. Have changed from systemd-boot to Limine because I dual boot and it’s better at handling Windows and Window’s EFI partition being installed on a separate drive. It just auto-detects it and means that if I do decide to completely ditch Windows I can just wipe that drive.
Dinit for desktop, s6 for server.
Btw, why is systemd even a thing for server distros? Can’t play none of it’s strengths but it’s fault’s affect security and stability.
Systemd, systemd-boot, systemd-snapwn
Good stuff
Why you want to switch from systemd? I hate how complex it is, this age verification and that they’re trying make make Linux more Windows like, but in that bad way (it’s created by people who prefer Windows over Linux so yeah). But if your installation is working and don’t have troubles then don’t switch.
Switching to “alteratives” shouldn’t affect gaming compatibility at all, cause you don’t need any daemons to play your games (maybe if you want to host server or use vpn for multiplayer). Remember that systemd is not init system, but software suite which provide init system also. I think that systemd might use more resources than other solutions. Some software can rely on systemd, but when are you installing program from your system repositories it will work cause it’s prepared to work if you’re using solid Linux distro. I had situation on MX Linux that I downloaded Mullvad VPN from Mullvad’s Debian repositories and it wasn’t working, because of no systemd. Then I discovered that MX Linux have Mullvad VPN in own repositories and it worked. On every non-systemd Linux distro you can install elogind which is usually preinstalled and it also care about compatibility layer.
If we speak just about other init systems try what you like. My favourite is runit, but the most popular alternatives are OpenRC (this is what I usually using, even right now on laptop and PC) and sysvinit. sysvinit was terrible experience for me on Devuan, on MX Linux okay; OpenRC is just okay, but I have few reasons to hate it.
Systemd is used by the most of people so if something will screw up more people can help you and there’s more tutorials on internet, also sometimes you need to tinker more on other init systems from my experience as systemd is more handholding. But using different init system will give important experience and learn you more how your system works.
If you’re looking for non-systemd distros check MX Linux which is the really good system, also for not advanced users who just want to run their games. It’s using sysvinit and you have GUI tools to control daemons.
The main functional difference between systemd and others is that systemd will just work. Others will require you hand tune and hand tinker with a non-mainstream Linux distro.
If your hobby is init systems by all means mess around though.
I personally quite like systemd. Unit files are clean, timers services and sockets are easy to manage etc.
Honestly it’s a non-problem. Best advice is to use what is best supported. Don’t let the extremely fringe (but loud) tiny group of systemd haters throw you off.
As someone who’s created a timer, cron is much more straightforward.
Systemd has its good points, but most of that is the core functionality as a sysvinit replacement in my opinion. And it’s entirely likely that at least one of the newer alternatives is a better option for that.
I think if you know cron from the start it can be easier, but it gets really annoying really fast.
Compare:
0 0 * * * /usr/bin/flock -n /tmp/myjob.lock bash -c 'sleep $((RANDOM % 3600)) && /usr/local/bin/myjob.sh'To:
[Timer] OnCalendar=daily RandomizedDelaySec=1hThat and things like systemd preventing overlapped delays, handing what to do if the system was down during the last cycle, built in logging and event tracking. Seeing successful vs non successful runs etc.
Once you add in those production requirements cron gets annoying fast and timers are easy.
For adding a quick thing to make something happen at a specific time, I can add a cron job in a couple of minutes. To add a timer takes creating a couple of files with syntax that took me a while to look up last time I needed it, and running a command. Then debugging. Sure, the timer has benefits, but cron jobs are still simpler.
On the bright side, there’s actually a “crontab -t” command that apparently can be used to generate timer files from a crontab line, which I hadn’t known of before today.
That’s because you know cron. If you knew timers equally as well they would be easier. And they let you handle the edge cases (retry, randomness, tracking, logs etc) without the need for a custom script.
Once you factor in the production edge cases I think timers are clearly easier. You get all of it for free.
As someone who didn’t know anything about either a short time ago, I found cron easier to learn and use. Systemd timers look more visually clean, but the way cron works is more simple and straightforward.
I can see how for some people cron is more straightforward to learn, at least till you need to handle logging, checking for cron results, handling when the triggered event can’t happen that instance, ensuring only one instance of the triggered thing happens at once, adding time jitter, etc.
Then timers are way simpler. Timers let you create robust timed events for free. With cron you need to do all that yourself.
I can add the two files required to run a timer in systemd in a couple minutes, but writing the complex incantation to cron for having it do something that is the default in systemd is pure pain and takes me 3 hours of googling
If you have to ask this, then its probably good idea to stick to systemd. I don’t see any reason to change, other than to protest. In the process doing so you will probably encounter issues. People switch away from systemd for various reasons, but not for performance. In example they don’t like who develops and controls systemd. And they don’t like that it does more than just initializing the system, as bunch of other tasks are bundled into it. If all of that does not bother you, stay with systemd in my opinion.
And if you really want to switch to systemd, then I recommend to use a dedicated operating system (a distro) with that in mind. Don’t forget, that systemd has many features and services, that its expected as a standard. You do not just change an init system, but replace all other components too.
do you think you’ll continue to use sysemd once it start embracing gov’t id requirements to use it?
i ask because i hold a similar position, but it’s adoption of the first step towards this end goal has me wondering if i should start looking for an alternative.
The developers of systemd said they will never support that, so I think its safe for now. Also why do you think systemd would “require” a government id check? systemd is just providing the functionality; it is the distribution / operating system that implements all the functionality. So if an operating system does implement it, I might find a different operating system, regardless of if it uses systemd or not. That is true for any other component too, not just systemd.
a government id requirement is the next logical step after its needful framework has been built as a result of the age verification laws that have already taken affect in the uk and california.
and because it’s a government law, it’s out of the systemd developer’s hands. linux is influenced heavily (if not outright controlled) by corporations like red hat who have to abide by the law if they want to continue operating and, in a likewise fashion, the systemd maintainers must also comport themselves if they want systemd to remain the dejour method that linux uses to initiate itself in those ecospheres.
That is speculation. And as said, its not the decision of systemd to implement that, it is a decision of the operating system / distribution. I live outside the areas of those laws. What the next logical step is, is open to interpretation and that is not what I am discussing here.
OpenRC here, on Gentoo.
It works pretty well, fast and simple, honestly I never felt the need for SystemD.
I use the latter at work sometimes, I don’t really like how it changed the way stuff works, but I have nothing against it. I just feel the extra complexity is not needed in all of my home setups (laptops, servers, etc). So it’s OpenRC everywhere for me.
I use OpenRC on most of my systems, which honestly works well enough that I’ve never felt the need to change. SystemD at work though, which is also fine. If I have any complaints, it’s just not what I’m used to.
Switching could be tricky, and may not be worth the hassle. It’d really depend on what you want to get out of it. As always though it’d be a good way to learn as you’ll inevitably break something and need to figure out how to fix it.
If you are asking about “gaming compatibility” you should not switch to a non-systemd distro. You will end up going through extra hoops for zero benefit.
What kind of extra hoops? Or maybe it’s the type of games?
Asking because I switched to Devuan on my gaming PC and I didn’t need to do anything specific for games to work (Steam and Lutris).
The only exception is The Last Caretaker (UE5) that requires more recent NVIDIA drivers than those in the Debian repos, but that has nothing to do with systemd, it’s Debian/Devuan being conservative with updates to guarantee stability.
That’s kind of the best case scenario though: there isn’t even a significant benefit
And by hoops i only mean what you just described: small differences with the mainstream distros that might cause friction for someone inexperienced. It’s not the end of the world. I was being a bit hyperbolic
I think there are plenty of pragmatic reasons an experienced sysadmin or Linux power user might prefer OpenRC or something sysVinit compatible over systemd, but i think those reasons make a lot less sense to someone who is, respectfully, obviously a beginner (revealed by their use of the phrase “gaming compatibility”)
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How it can affect compatibility issues with games?
Systemd is fine. Stop getting trolled by antiquated neckbeards.
Unless you find a specific problem with something, don’t go looking for reasons to fix that which is not broken.
Systemd is fine, but we should be aiming for better than fine.
That being said., there’s definitely something to be said for sticking with “fine” until something else proves itself to be at least adequate with potential to be better than merely fine.
Systemd is the worst init system except for all of the others.
No, it’s not fine. But I agree with the last sentence.
I use systemd it’s fine and requires very little extra thought.
Except for systems with very limited resources, systemd or not won’t make much of a difference in performance. A lot of tutorials on reading system logs and managing background services will assume that you are using systemd.
I’ve only ever used distros with systemd, not necessarily with intent, but because it was the default and well-supported. Probably won’t switch unless
- Debian switches
- there’s a change that breaks my workflow
- it somehow starts phoning home to a big datacenter.
I’m using shepherd right now and i’ve used runit in the past. Shepherd is definitely a beast of its own since it’s configured in guile scheme, but in the case of runit it just runs schell scripts and the commands are for the most part just as simple as systemd. I’ve seen people claim that some programs won’t work without systemd but i’ve never come across something that didn’t work.
it’s one of those cases where if you have to ask, you should probably just use
systemd. anything else is outdated or a passion project based on some idealism, which i’m all for, but if you’re worried about gaming performance as a primary concern i’d put it out of your mind. for example, i’m an obsessive tinkerer that uses NixOS and Arch before that and i use nushell and Neovim and Hyprland, but i use systemd cuz i don’t see a reason not to. it’s well supported and stable.it’s one of those cases where if you have to ask, you should probably just use systemd.
I just said the same, lol. This is my default responds to questions like these.
