Me too. Ironically, systemd is why I bought a Mac.
It's so hard to find a linux distro that actually works on a laptop but doesn't use systemd, so I eventually just gave up on Linux entirely.
That left me with BSD, Windows, and macOS.
I tried FreeBSD and OpenBSD but performance was atrocious and noticeably worse in almost every way than Debian and win7 on the same hardware. I'm sure BSD makes a good server OS but it's just not mature enough for serious work unless I was willing to keep my laptop plugged 99% of the time. But what's the point of a laptop if the OS performs so poorly it won't even last a 4-hour flight?
I similarly seem to be the last guy on earth who still remembers the bad old days of Microsoft's dominance so I won't pay for windows.
Interesting choice you have there. Systemd is heavily influenced by launchd, the service manager that makes MacOS tick. They're very similar in design. IPC based, socket-activated, property-based, dependencies, parallel startup, unifying init and service management...
Sorry you had such a bad time with OpenBSD. It isn't top of the heap when it comes to performance but there are benefits that balance it out.
On the Linux front, I've been using Void and it has been pretty fantastic. Runit is the default init. It is a more hands-on distro (think Arch 10 years ago), but it's fast, slim, and doesn't have systemd.
> It's so hard to find a linux distro that actually works on a laptop but doesn't use systemd
Don't you think that there's a reason for that? That systemd solves the problems that make it possible to react to events and makes laptop-usable distros possible?
Meanwhile, enjoy launchd. Maybe you will find out, that they are conceptually similar.
launchd has a clearly defined scope, and it restricts itself to doing only those tasks which fall under its remit.
If systemd had followed a similar philosophy, it would have been accepted without anything like the same amount of criticism. As it is, its scope creep is frankly absurd and dangerous.
Most of the additional functionality is optional, and in separate binaries. Apple also has similar functionality (seat management, resolver management, etc), and nobody is bothered by that.
One gets the impression that optionality is only theoretical. Same for separate binaries. The degree of coupling in the systemd architecture is enormous. So then, what purpose do separate binaries serve other than being able to (conveniently) be used for deflection or provide a certain facade?
The philosophy of systemd exemplified through PRAXIS is one of subsumption and uniformity (== taking away choice) under a singular vision defined by the systemd implementors. In practice, this means that you are penalized in various ways if you don't "buy in all the way". You can take a look at all the distributions that ship systemd by default and see how many have bought in all the way vs not using the "additional functionality".
I moved away from Linux as soon as systemd was everywhere. I first migrated to Slackware, and then to FreeBSD. I wouldn't call this kind of move overreaction.
Some people just want to know exactly what is running on their system, and how it works. That's one of the reasons I don't use Windows.
(I do confess that I never took the time to learn systemd properly, but I highly appreciate it for introducing me to the BSD world).
I don't particularly think so. The amount of my time that systemd has wasted is insane. Buying a mac would have saved me all that time... if only I liked their hardware more.
I don't think so. If the distribution you're using insists on integrating software that you don't want, it's reasonable to leave.
He tried other open source operating systems and didn't find them acceptable. Sure, there are Linux distributions that have formed to avoid systemd, but it's not clear how long any of them will last.
Mac os isn't exactly unicorns and rainbows either, but there are some benefits of being part of a larger user base, too.
Did apple reinvent every Unix daemon under the sun as part of launchd? And did they also reinvent all the security problems while they were doing it?
The problem with systemd isn't necessarily how it handles system startup and daemon supervision (although I don't care for that), it's that it subsumes so many other things, and with no technical excellence.
The aggregation of these services are all understandable, because every one of them is about running a service. They might be triggered by different events (timer, network connection, at boot, manually), but other than that they are all doing pretty much the same thing: setting up and running a service.
It isn't building in an NTP client, or a hostname resolver, or configuring your network, or taking over the system logging, or generating QR codes. It has a singular focus and design which makes conceptual sense. It's not a dumping ground for a disparate collection of poor quality alternatives to existing tools.
It's so hard to find a linux distro that actually works on a laptop but doesn't use systemd, so I eventually just gave up on Linux entirely.
That left me with BSD, Windows, and macOS.
I tried FreeBSD and OpenBSD but performance was atrocious and noticeably worse in almost every way than Debian and win7 on the same hardware. I'm sure BSD makes a good server OS but it's just not mature enough for serious work unless I was willing to keep my laptop plugged 99% of the time. But what's the point of a laptop if the OS performs so poorly it won't even last a 4-hour flight?
I similarly seem to be the last guy on earth who still remembers the bad old days of Microsoft's dominance so I won't pay for windows.
The winner by default is therefore apple.