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webwarrior1.0

Member

From: Tennessee, United States

Registered: 2025-11-10

Posts: 1  

New to Linux: Independent vs Based-on Distributions?

Hello everyone. This is my first post so please correct me if I format incorrectly or speak out of line. As a relatively new user to Linux (daily driver since '21), I'm curious about something: Is having a distribution based on another distribution, à la Devuan/Debian, a positive in regards to independence? Will a decision made by Debian forcefully change Devuan? I love Devuan so far (I put it on a home server, I'm considering switching from Artix) and am a big fan of runit. I like that Debian has such a huge package list and that Devuan can mostly take advantage of that. But I don't like Debian's use of SystemD and the arguably hostile stance it has taken on non-technical subjects (need I explain?). Or am I thinking of this all wrong?

Thanks for reading and taking the time to respond.

HardSun

Member

Registered: 2025-07-29

Posts: 24  

Re: New to Linux: Independent vs Based-on Distributions?

Will a decision made by Debian forcefully change Devuan?

Yes it could, an example would be the usrmerge.
https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge
https://lists.dyne.org/lurker/message/2 … 64.en.html

Last edited by HardSun (Today 06:24:45)

Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 1,894  

Re: New to Linux: Independent vs Based-on Distributions?

Hello:

Yes it could ...

Actually, it can and does.

The main reason being that Devuan is just Debian without systemd.
With all that it entails.

Devuan developers/maintainers and admins make a truly herculean effort to keep it running.
But they are severely overworked and understaffed.

There is only so much that can be done under such dire circumstances.

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (Today 09:22:38)

brocashelm

Member

Registered: 2020-06-29

Posts: 163  

Re: New to Linux: Independent vs Based-on Distributions?

The further downstream you go, the more vulnerable the project is. It's better to stay as close to the original, where much of the significant changes can be observed. Whatever Debian does outside of init stuff will usually befall Devuan, because that's just how it's set up.

Slackware never adopted Systemd in any fashion, and they have no upstream distro to answer to. They do use Elogind where applicable, though.