index.md (20606B)
1 systemd is the best example of Suck. 2 ==================================== 3 There is a menace which is spreading like a disease throughout the Linux 4 world, it is called [systemd](https://github.com/systemd/systemd). 5 6 Short Historical Summary 7 ------------------------ 8 systemd is a replacement for the standard init command, which normally runs 9 as process id 1 on initialisation of a UNIX bootup. There has been a movement, 10 especially around the [Red Hat](http://www.redhat.com)-related developers to 11 copy [Microsoft Windows](http://www.microsoft.com/) and all of its features. 12 Now this interpretation of how a userspace should look like is implemented and 13 was introduced with big criticism and change in the Open Source world into 14 many distributions. The [debacle in Debian](https://wiki.debian.org/Debate/initsystem/systemd) 15 is the best example in how to not introduce such a changing technology into a 16 distribution. 17 18 What PID 1 Should Do 19 ------------------------ 20 When your system boots up the kernel is executing a given binary in its known 21 namespace. To 22 see what are the only tasks the application running as pid 1 has to do, see 23 [sinit](//git.suckless.org/sinit/). Just wait for child process to reap 24 and run some other init scripts. 25 26 The systemd Chronicles 27 ---------------------- 28 Now follows a collection of links related to all the features systemd tries to 29 enforce upon you as a Linux user, because »they know better«. 30 31 Please add all the links you can find! Generations after us have to know how 32 to not do software and system development! See the 33 [wiki instructions](//suckless.org/wiki) on how to contribute to this 34 page. 35 36 The Never Ending Part 37 --------------------- 38 * Your link here. 39 40 * [systemd now stores birth dates to comply with Brazil and California age verification laws](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954) 41 * [The SystemD Platform: an Unbiased Critique](http://soggywizards.com/tips/code/os/initialization/systemd/good-bad-ugly/) 42 43 Part 4 44 ------ 45 * [systemd breaks POSIX IPC](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/2039) 46 * [systemd-logind deletes your message queues](https://knzl.de/systemd-removeipc) 47 * [systemd breaks the mouse(again)](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/8579) 48 49 Part 3 50 ------ 51 [NEWS revision 76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS) 52 53 * [systemd does {,U}EFI bootload](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L1306) 54 * Should systemd's PID be changed from 1 to a negative, or imaginary, 55 number? It now exists before the kernel itself, during a bootup. 56 See also [systemd-boot](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/systemd-boot). 57 * [systemd replaces sudo and su](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L1233) 58 * Please note the command name, machinectl and 59 its [features at the manpage](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/machinectl.html). 60 In exchange for a program which contains sudo, su and kill 61 (and does some functions which historically ssh/telnet did), bare metal 62 users have a tons of bloat and a lot of things to disable, if even 63 possible, useful only to people which deal with virtual machines. 64 * [systemd-journald can do log-rotate](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L1073) 65 * Being journal files binaries written with easily corruptable 66 transactions, does this feature make the log unreadable at times? 67 * [Transient units](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L708) 68 * Temporary services, because we love to reinvent procps, forking, 69 nohup and lsof. 70 * [systemd does socat/netcat](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L546) 71 * [systemd-logind does sighup and nohup](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L274) 72 * Logout is equivalent to shutting off the machine, so you will NOT 73 have any running program after logout, unless you inform your init system. 74 * [systemd-nspawn can patch at will any kind of file in a container](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L391) 75 * Paired with transient units and user escalation performable remotely, 76 this can mean that if you house VPS instances somewhere, your 77 hosting provider has means and tools to spy, modify, delete any 78 kind of content you store there. Encrypt everything, read your TOS. 79 * [systemd does UNIX nice](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/76153ad45f09b6ae45464f2e03d3afefbb4b2afe/NEWS#L425) 80 81 from 2016-08-06 82 83 Part 2 84 ------ 85 * [systemd locks down /etc and makes it read-only](http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1350450) 86 * [systemd now does your DNS](https://lists.dns-oarc.net/pipermail/dns-operations/2016-June/014964.html) 87 * [systemd hates when you adapt your system (graphics on other than vt1)](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=817186) 88 89 Part 1 90 ------ 91 (If you are adding more parts, link to the right revision and not just the 92 plain file.) 93 94 [NEWS revision 3f80af378331748e1373d4c189a8e20cddb735c9](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c) 95 96 * [logind should wait](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n2089) 97 * systemd was introduced to decrease the boot up time. Now that they 98 do not understand all implications and dependencies, let us add some 99 artifical time we found out might work for the developers 100 laptops. More on this small world hypothesis of the systemd 101 developers below. 102 * [screen brightness](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1852) 103 * Screen brightness is something that should crash your boot up when 104 it is not working. 105 * [hostnamed](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1763) 106 * There really should be a process running which exposes the content 107 of a file. Complexity is without cost. 108 * [seqnum removed](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1742) 109 * The sequential ordering of requests was one reason why udevd was 110 introduced. Now remove it, because the developer laptops do not have 111 a problem anymore. 112 * [floppy group removed](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1703) 113 * Because we know what is right to know about groups. This is just one 114 example of the mass of group name dependencies systemd is adding. 115 See sinit for how to not need such dependencies. 116 * [sysv removed](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1651) 117 * We have won. Now remove all remains of our defeated enemy as 118 fast as we can. As said in the beginning of the systemd crusade 119 against the UNIX infidels: »You can patch it out.« It is no more 120 there. 121 * [abnormal processes](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1627) 122 * Now systemd is getting deep into philosophy. What is »abnormal«? 123 Well, let us just define it. There is no technical merit to accept 124 this. 125 * [systemd-resolved](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1578) 126 * Every configuration file needs its own process and service. 127 * Symlinks are a good way to solve all world problems. 128 * [new is better](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1571) 129 * The systemd development process is flawed by always assuming »new is 130 best«. 131 * Network configuration should be in my init process. 132 * [remote pid 1](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1500) 133 * »Everything will end up having a remote API.« I wonder when systemd 134 will understand MIME and e-mail. 135 * [init does man](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1465) 136 * My init process is too big, it needs its own file hierarchy and an 137 abstraction layer to find paths. 138 * [factory reset](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1401) 139 * Welcome to the Windows OEM world: Factory reset for Linux! Of course 140 it is in your init process. 141 * [system runs runs](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1397) 142 * Exactly. The predisposition of being able to call such a complex 143 command does not imply the running system. Let's check it again. 144 * [clean up directories](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1306) 145 * There is another monster in systemd, it handles tmp files. 146 There are just some cases before it was introduced to have to clean up 147 a directory in the file tree. Now there are hundreds. And easily 148 another case can be added! Of course your init process does that. 149 * [firstboot](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1259) 150 * »Interactive queries« pulls in many dependencies. Let us have it in 151 every installation out there on by default. Of course in pid 1. 152 * [journald](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1234) 153 * This is a bit longer. Because the systemd developers were not able 154 to contribute to any syslog daemon they had to write their own with 155 some binary format so the principle of being able to read your log 156 files after a critical crash was violated. To be nice invaders the old 157 systems were allowed to order the system log through the specified 158 mechanism. Now that they implemented our specifics, turn off the 159 neutral syslog delivery. You will see this pattern of »now that we 160 conquered your culture, obey« more often in systemd. 161 * [systemd-terminal](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1224) 162 * Why does the kernel have tty handling? So in serious situations you 163 will be able to debug it over the last standing PIN on your 164 motherboard. Let us remove this, run it in pid 1. 165 * [networkd is your oppressor](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1216) 166 * Premature optimisation of IP configurations always leads to misery. 167 * [We do not understand broadcast](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1211) 168 * With the growth of systemd in complexity and the new depending 169 software the implications of the added hacks are increasing. 170 * [Timezone hack](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1193) 171 * systemd is too complex for such a simple transaction with the 172 kernel. Do not inform the kernel and add another assumption which is 173 only documented in the changelog. 174 * [the web is a session](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1168) 175 * For the future generations: In 2015 nearly everyone was trying to 176 connect all you do to the web. In the UNIX model it is just a client 177 which should be simple and integrate into the system. systemd is 178 doing it the other way around and does integrate itself into the 179 web. 180 * The discussion about why my pid 1 is handling sessions is discussed 181 in other points. 182 * [pid 1 does DNS](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1128) 183 * This change adds another open door to your pid 1, adds caches, new 184 APIs and of course it will never fail and break systemd on your 185 initial boot. 186 * They are planning (2015-07) to add multicast DNS to your pid 1. 187 Multicast DNS implies an enforced timeout to know if someone answered. 188 systemd was about speed, you know. Look at avahi in how to ruin this 189 concept for Linux. It has the same developer flaws as systemd: Too 190 many forced dependencies, you need to implement its API and when it is 191 taking over you are doomed. 192 * [policykit](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1113) 193 * There is a bus inside your pid 1 and if it crashes you are flawed. 194 Exactly, there are a thousand more cases of errors that could occur 195 and make your system unbootable. Instead of using a separation of 196 functions, add everything to a big bus. 197 * Of course when you are using a misdesign like dbus you need to add 198 interactions over the bus to add features you forgot in the initial 199 design. Now let us have our pid 1 have to query for the permission 200 to boot. 201 * »Interactive authentication« will produce you a graphical input form 202 on your serial line. 203 * [Calendar](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n1044) 204 * As you see, your pid 1 should handle your calendars and cron jobs 205 too. 206 * [utmp should go](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n994) 207 * We have taken over your culture, now die! Another flaw in the 208 systemd small world theory: When something is getting optional it 209 will be removed. 210 * [password agent](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n964) 211 * »Interactive authentication« 212 * [udev timeout](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n944) 213 * Instead of patching the kernel to add a simple solution, add a hack. 214 Only the systemd developers tell you when it is allowed to wait or 215 sleep in userspace. The rest obey our orders! 216 * [systemd-pm](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n924) 217 * Power management is required on boot up. 218 * [user systemd units](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n898) 219 * What can go wrong when you are adding more paths that are read, 220 parsed and executed? 221 * [hack the reload](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n888) 222 * First systemd was adding »better features« like socket activation to 223 make developers use their mechanism for daemons. They hit the 224 proprietary wall of disgust with this changelog entry. systemd is 225 too big and you will lose your face if you change the misdesign. Now 226 add another hack because we can do it. Big empires fall too and 227 sadly have too many casualties when they are falling. :( 228 * [X11 in systemd](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n783) 229 * Of course graphics were missing in pid 1. 230 * [complexity is purity](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n738) 231 * You will of course need PPPoE when you do parallel bootup. Every 232 1000 lines of code add one critical bug you never fix. 233 * [gateway hostname](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n700) 234 * We rule the world so we are above IETF and IANA. Now add our own 235 hostnames that of course won't add another assumption. 236 * [no editor in systemd](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n689) 237 * This one is a setback. Why is there no default editor in systemd in 238 case of factory reset? 239 * [8x ctrl + alt + del](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n610) 240 * In systemd you press eight times Ctrl+Alt+Del to trigger reboot. 241 * [privacy policy](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n594) 242 * For the next generations: In 2015 privacy was a big issue because of 243 the mentioned hard-wiring between the web and software. 244 As you can see, every commit which adds some preparation for a 245 feature adds another intepretation of what will be a major 246 assumption in a next release. If you 247 handle privacy you will have some features depending on that user 248 decision and of course the factory reset default value. 249 * Why didn't they use XML for /etc/os-release? 250 * [fds cache](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n502) 251 * We have talked about misdesign, too-big-to-fail and world 252 domination. This is the next example of a hack that is prone to 253 fail. 254 * [umount -rf](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n380) 255 * This is umount for dummies. Just do one thing – right. 256 * [libudev will be orphaned](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n291) 257 * With the advent of udevd there was a compatibility to its complexity 258 called libudev. X11 uses it to query the changing devices. And of 259 course make it a non-independent API in systemd. Why? You can guess 260 why: Defeating the infidels. 261 * [fsck indirections](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n281) 262 * When there was syslog fsck did output errors to your display as 263 easy as possible. Now add a hack to have this possible again. 264 * [systemd-importd](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n236) 265 * This is pure evil. Your pid 1 is now able to import complete system 266 images over the network and show them to you as your running system. 267 There is nothing that can go wrong. 268 * [CGI for systemd](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n166) 269 * The web thing has been discussed before. 270 * [kdbus](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n57) 271 * As of 2015-07-31 kdbus is not in the mainline Linux kernel. systemd 272 made kdbus non-optional in its release. The kernel maintainers are 273 still debating the kdbus ABI or possible alternatives, but if 274 systemd depends on the current state of kdbus the kernel maintainers 275 are faced with the hard decision to either break Fedora userspace or 276 accept the current kdbus proposal into the kernel with its security 277 and maintainability issues. This is the best example how 278 systemd is forcing you into decisions. Of course if you are a mindless 279 bureaucrat it helps you to keep your job. 280 * [readahead removed](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/systemd/systemd/tree/NEWS?id=2d1ca11270e66777c90a449096203afebc37ec9c#n950) 281 * The first thing swallowed in on Fedora was readahead. Now that (of 282 course!) everyone is using an SSD (at least the developers of 283 systemd do that) it can be removed. Why was it there? Is it possible 284 to make it a separate tool again? There's no time for that, we are implementing 285 new features. 286 287 from 2015-07-31 288 289 Practical systemd 290 ----------------- 291 292 Here is what happens on a stock Arch Linux system, powered by systemd, 293 when a non-root user tries to restart the system: 294 295 $ reboot 296 Failed to set wall message, ignoring: The name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 was not provided by any .service files 297 Failed to reboot system via logind: The name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 was not provided by any .service files 298 Failed to talk to init daemon. 299 300 In contrast, here is the equivalent error message on a system powered by 301 runit: 302 303 $ reboot 304 init: fatal: unable to create /etc/runit/stopit: access denied 305 306 And on the oldest and best, Slackware: 307 308 $ reboot 309 reboot: must be superuser. 310 311 systemd is driving "just google the problem" attitude, because how the hell are 312 you expected to troubleshoot this kind of error otherwise? 313 314 Further Reading 315 --------------- 316 * [Without systemd](http://without-systemd.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) 317 * [Arguments Against systemd](http://without-systemd.org/wiki/index.php/Arguments_against_systemd) 318