Learning *nix Today Means Learning systemd!
As I introduce you to the world of *nix, you'll learn how Linux has pulled ahead of the FreeBSD Unix community, allowing us to take control of our own lives. Discover how Lennart Poettering's controversial systemd for Linux, based on Apple's launchd and launch, has made system automation possible, replacing SysV. Get all the details on this exciting new development in my blog post.
Take Control of Your Life with Linux and Systemd!
By Michael Levin
Sunday, July 24, 2022
I am going to initiate you to the world of nix. Everyone’s got to go through some course in life. From some point, we choose and decide. We break down walls. The world I’m proposing is pretty well called *nix for Unix-like operating systems. But given the profoundly strong initiative of adding kernel-level hypervisor capabilities, soon thereafter by the unification of how system services are handled with systemd, Linux has pulled a wee-bit ahead of the FreeBSD Unix community, and it is them being forced into the somewhat embarrassing position of having to change to stay Linux-compatible. So perhaps it should be *nux that I advocate. Or just plain nux.
There is a blurred line between when we are following a compelled course set in motion for us by virtue of being born, and later when we take control of our own lives. We eventually see things in a new light, shifting from the perspective of a dependent child to one who must make it out there in life. Whether it’s on your own or not is one of those many decisions you’ll need to make.
Linux has pulled that far ahead that for general system-automation work, Linux is the new standard, replacing SysV. There wasn’t much wrong with SysV except for a needless lack of convention across versions of Linux, plus the requirements for an unreasonable amount of Unix/Bash-script skills. This was not what Apple wanted for the Unix soon to be at the heart of Macintosh, so they developed lauchd which came with the control program launchctl. Starting to sound familiar? Well it should! It’s what the controversial FOSS Linux developer Lennart Poettering copied when writing the now-popular systemd for Linux.
And do uh yeah, Unix was there first with replacement to a bash-file oriented init system.