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kaiyel

Member

Registered: 2019-10-16

Posts: 37  

Re: Why not use runit? Do you guys use runit?

I've read statements like this :

But the other half of that "harsh reality" is that SysV init is something for hobbyist

made elsewhere, and I continue to disagree emphatically.  I've been a Linux system administrator, professionally, for decades ... not one, not two, but three.  I cut my teeth on Slackware and evolved with RedHat.  Now I use Devuan.  Why am I here?  Largely because SysVinit "just works".  It's solid, stable, reliable, secure, and does the minimal amount required to achieve those goals.  It "does one thing well" and is the gold standard by which all other init systems are measured even today.

If runit, or any of the others, rises to SysVinit's level, I happily encourage their use.  But that is a high bar to reach.

Labeling SysVinit as a "hobbyist" tool is not remotely accurate in any Linux history book.  It was, and is, bedrock upon which Linux emerged as a player in the arena.  The "harsh reality", if there is one, is that SysVinit was foundational for every professional Linux sysadmin today having a little gray in his beard.  It works as well today as it did then, and it still works better than many/most of its competing init systems depending upon the criteria being measured.

That being said, when RedHat replaced SysVinit with upstart, I hardly even noticed, and felt no inclination to move to another distribution.  I immediately felt that inclination when systemd became the forced standard.  RedHat forced me, a veteran sysadmin, to either start with a new distribution or abandon the stability, reliability, and security I was accustomed to.  I was expecting to return to Slackware before Devuan arrived on the scene.  And Devuan has been exceptionally good.

There is room for other quality init systems and maybe runit falls into that category as upstart did.  I started reading this thread mainly to see if other gray beards felt it to be so.

Cheers,
--K