systemd Lands SD-Boot, Its EFI Boot Manager & Stub Loader

[slojam]

At what point does the creep of systemd stop. It's already gone well beyond an init/sysv replacement. I have no problem with using systemd and run it on my main system (Arch) but I'm getting more and more concerned by the number of pies it's sticking it's fingers in now.

It's a power grab. Global interests including the American military industrial complex have recognized that GNU/Linux is everywhere and growing. The GNU, the Linus, and his inner circle of officers are not under any kind of control, that's for sure. They want a lever at the core which can be pulled if necessary. No secret conspiracy, no dramatic overnight coup, no tinfoil hats. Slowly but surely systemd gains the mass needed to defy Linus some day. Then Systemd is the OS and Linux is just some kernel.

I'm not saying that this is good or bad, or that systemd is good or bad on technical merits. I'm just sayin... this could be a good plot for a cheap novel.

[Luke_Wolf]

Well, you never used efibootmgr, correct? It is a piece of cake if you know what you do.

I've dealt with efibootmgr plenty in order to remove dead entries, and I spent a lot of time with it trying to fix the UEFI bootloader breaking. Most of my problems with UEFI would be fixed if they'd just not store boot state in the EEPROM (which there's no point to doing. The only thing the EEPROM should arguably be doing in regards to boot loader state is keeping track of ordering on the device level, but given you've got a whole partition for the purpose of handling booting... why bother?).

Actually, the UEFI spec says you need to at least support fat32, but doesn't require it at all. The defualt OS X installs, for example, use HFS+ for the EFI partition. (Which makes things so much harder for tools like Boot Repair that expect it to be in fat32...)

While this is true, other than Apple, from which vendor can I get a board that supports anything other than FAT32?

[LLStarks]

At what point does the creep of systemd stop. It's already gone well beyond an init/sysv replacement. I have no problem with using systemd and run it on my main system (Arch) but I'm getting more and more concerned by the number of pies it's sticking it's fingers in now.

It looks like we're heading towards systemd/Linux. Will that entail dislodging GNU's monopoly and tools on what defines a Linux desktop? I can't say.

A few years ago, a Linux desktop could be nothing more than a clusterfuck of bash scripts that somehow managed the boot and system processes. That time is over. Everything should be clean and orderly unless you are one of those Gentoo guys. systemd fills that role perfectly.

[slojam]

GNU's monopoly

Beautiful oxymoron! I love it. Can I put that in my sig

[duby229]

It looks like we're heading towards systemd/Linux. Will that entail dislodging GNU's monopoly and tools on what defines a Linux desktop? I can't say.

A few years ago, a Linux desktop could be nothing more than a clusterfuck of bash scripts that somehow managed the boot and system processes. That time is over. Everything should be clean and orderly unless you are one of those Gentoo guys. systemd fills that role perfectly.

Testify! Praise it! Yeah!

All hail our overlord!

[slojam]

It's a power grab. Global interests including the American military industrial complex have recognized that GNU/Linux is everywhere and growing. The GNU, the Linus, and his inner circle of officers are not under any kind of control, that's for sure. They want a lever at the core which can be pulled if necessary. No secret conspiracy, no dramatic overnight coup, no tinfoil hats. Slowly but surely systemd gains the mass needed to defy Linus some day. Then Systemd is the OS and Linux is just some kernel.

I'm not saying that this is good or bad, or that systemd is good or bad on technical merits. I'm just sayin... this could be a good plot for a cheap novel.

p.s. my analysis is based on ~30 minutes of browsing phoronix forums, and watching some funny cat videos.

[Alejandro Nova]

p.s. my analysis is based on ~30 minutes of browsing phoronix forums, and watching some funny cat videos.

Awesome analysis. BTW, don't forget http://www.nyan.co , it's smallish, but the name fits.

[duby229]

It looks like we're heading towards systemd/Linux. Will that entail dislodging GNU's monopoly and tools on what defines a Linux desktop? I can't say.

A few years ago, a Linux desktop could be nothing more than a clusterfuck of bash scripts that somehow managed the boot and system processes. That time is over. Everything should be clean and orderly unless you are one of those Gentoo guys. systemd fills that role perfectly.

AKA "Walled Garden"

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSNco3TdikxxiidOCxpq41DZKZXcluReOlzgKj3WnxE5fOzYG19WA

Soooo perty.

[balouba]

gummiboot works well. reminds me of the fbsd boot loader. simple, to the point, just works.

now then again - systemd-managing-everything seems like a potential problem at some point. sure its power grabs in some case (forced dependencies on non-systemd software are coming up - nothing to do with the NSA after all!), but also more importantly from an operational point of view it sounds dangerous.

[edmon]

it looks that devuan is getting in shape. soon we all will stop to care if systemd is integrated toilet sink in it.