Svante Signell <svante.sign...@gmail.com> wrote:

> See above, the DNG mailing list is mostly full of discussions and not
> much actions, except for from a few people.

That is the impression I'd got as well.

Now I'll preface the next bit with ... this is not meant to be an insult or 
criticism, so please don't take it that way. It's intended to be constructive 
suggestions from the POV of a sysadmin looking to avoid SystemD - a refugee 
from Debian Jessie if you like. I'll add that my programming skills these days 
don't extend much beyond Bash scripting and some SQL. And also add that as a 
fairly new arrival here, I'm aware that some of the "bits I perceive as 
missing" may actually be there but I haven't found them yet.

ISTM that the priorities need to be :

1) Get something working !
That means having the systems in place so that the target audience can get a 
system up and running without too much hassle. And also having all the needed 
files/packages present.
If in the short term that means having SystemD (or bits of it) then so be it - 
IMO it's better to have something that works, and a clear strategy for 
disinfecting it, than to have nothing at all.
I've seen some threads regarding installation issues, so I can see that there 
is both progress and work still to do there.


2) Get devs on board. As hit on by Svante, that means having the processes in 
place so that those that are capable and willing to support the project can do 
so - ie having the systems in place to manage and build the packages.
Just in this thread I've seen evidence that at least one person has their own 
repository of "fixed" packages. That's great, but for production servers, the 
PHBs out there expect to see "official" packages that have gone through the 
projects QA process at least. PHBs tend to get nervous about using packages 
that have some similarities with the electronic version of "I got it from a 
bloke in the pub".

2) Get users on board. That needs 1 and 2.


4) Properly disinfect the remnants of SystemD out. Now I've refused to upgrade 
to Debian Jessie (I tested one server, rolled it back to a backup) because 
packages I need have added gratuitous SystemD dependencies. The weightings to 
that decision change significantly when it's "SystemD is there but we're 
working really hard to get rid of it" vs "shut up it's here to stay".


Notice that there's 2off number 2 there ? I think there's a chicken and egg 
problem - and a limited time window.
Without the user base, there's perhaps less appeal for devs; without the devs, 
there's the risk of not providing a compelling "product" for the users.

If it takes too long, refugees from Debian+SystemD will come along enticed by 
the references in the trade comics/blogs etc - and if there's nothing useful to 
see then are likely to get disillusioned and wander off. How many times have 
you seen something announced, there's a lot of buzz (and hype - though not 
necessarily from the project), and then when reality sinks in it all sort of 
deflates as potential users find out it "doesn't deliver".
As to timescale, at present Wheezy is in support - and so security updates 
should still come through. C.f. clamav-daemon has been updated for Wheezy 
without the libsystemd0 dependency it has in Jessie. So to a large extent I (as 
a sysadmin) have some legitimate reason why I can hold off "upgrading" to 
Jessie.
As soon as Jessie+1 is released, then Wheezy becomes unsupported. At that 
point, it's hard(er) to argue against having to upgrade.


So I'd say ... Yes, remove SystemD please. But it's not the first thing that 
needs to happen.

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