Re: Boycott Systemd

On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 02:11:42 +1000
Lie Ryan <[email protected]> wrote:

> 
> Let's make ten different electric sockets, twenty different way to
> calculate version number for softwares, thirty software licenses, and
> don't forget to make at least five mutually-incompatible APIs for
> every browser features that all do roughly the same thing differently.
> Oh, and everyone had to write their dates in Month-Year-Day, period.
> Is your life any better from having this kind of "diversity"?
> 

The kind of diversity in Linux that should always be maintained is
the diversity that results from having a highly configurable and
customizable system.  Each user, or each distribution, is therefore
able to pick and choose what is best or preferable.  The Linux kernel
allows many different options/modules to be either enabled or disabled
and this is a good thing.  Some people require rigid security while
others do not.  Each is free to tune the security to a desired level.
It would not be right to impose a single configuration on all users.
Such freedom comes at the cost, I suppose, of higher system complexity
but anything other than complete flexibility and choice in design would
make Linux severely unattractive.

Whenever something like systemd comes along, its utility should be measured
against this need for freedom of configuration.  IMO, it's better to
be crude and flexible than elegant and rigid.