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A question about inits

I am new to Artix Linux (just a month and a week as of this post), and I had to flip a coin to help me decide which init to install. I came from another distro that was just plain simple and the only choice to make was which DE.

I am a long-time KDE user (20 years and counting) and I didn't see any need for me to change. The distro I came from was also systemd-free, but the migration to Wayland and getting it to work with Plasma 6 were very real reasons for me to try out others - Alpine, Obarun, etc.

I am content with Artix but a nagging question keeps popping up and hovering above my head. I,also, did my due diligence, and research the various inits but for me, understanding something is not quite the same as the experience.

Did I make the right decision installing S6? Or would it be better if I chose OpenRC ... or Runit... or Dinit? I did not opt for the Base because I quickly wanted something up and running.

Of course I understand that we have different levels, different usage, etc. but the question remains. Am I in a satisfactory environment?
S6

Re: A question about inits

Reply #1
be at peace brother.

It really does not matter.

one should not need to worry about the init.

ok?

Also, you should have chose dinit.

Re: A question about inits

Reply #2
I'm interested in this question. I chose runit, essentially a coin-flip decision as well. So far (very new user) I can't fault it. But I'm thinking of switching to OpenRC, only because it looks a little closer to SystemV, and I have a lot of experience with that.

So... why dinit?

Re: A question about inits

Reply #3
I'm interested in this question. I chose runit, essentially a coin-flip decision as well. So far (very new user) I can't fault it. But I'm thinking of switching to OpenRC, only because it looks a little closer to SystemV, and I have a lot of experience with that.

So... why dinit?

+1 why dinit?

I am also interested in OpenRC. Lately, I've been interested and researching ZFS but ATM it's a lot to take in. I've already borked OpenRC installs on an old laptop thrice... mea culpa. Taking a break from it.

For now, I have no qualms on Artix S6 on my desktop.
S6


Re: A question about inits

Reply #5
S6 seems like a good choice:
https://skarnet.org/software/s6-linux-init/
https://skarnet.org/software/s6-linux-init/why.html

I chose OpenRC because it reminds me of SysV
Moreover openrc is very documented (gentoo) and has proven itself.

I'm sure I'll be sticking around with S6 for a while. I would explore OpenRC because of my interest on ZFS ... when I'm ready.  ;)
S6

Re: A question about inits

Reply #6

OK, so the conceit of he joke is - it does not matter - then saying it does and you choose poorly. See?

Why dinit?
User services.
It seemed very simple.
the guy who wrote it is right here...
newest.

OpenRC needed me to install dinit to get user services, so... why not just choose dinit?

But, again, it does not matter. we are thinking way more about this than you will ever need to think about your init after you choose an init, right?

I think artix supports 4 inits just as another fuck you to the CONCEPT of systemd

shortest name.

Re: A question about inits

Reply #7
OK, so the conceit of he joke is - it does not matter - then saying it does and you choose poorly. See?

Why dinit?
User services.

I haven't looked into user services yet - too many other things to deal with.

Just now, I find this explanation under Void Linux, so I see I can do it using runit.

But I don't see this as being a big deal. Maybe, for people who have more complexity in their usage? To the extent I have "services" I use as myself, rather than as system, I just invoke them from the command line, and if there's a need to save typing, or have some dependency checking, I write a shell script.

So, I don't see any advantage here. Can you provide a quick high-level explanation of how this is especially useful?

FWIW, I decided to stick with runit, just to lighten my mental burden right now, when I have lots of other things going on with my migration to Artix.

Re: A question about inits

Reply #8
I am using dinit. Never had any problems with it.

Re: A question about inits

Reply #9
I have used openrc and runit and am using dinit now.  They all seem simple enough for my limited brain power to comprehend.  Whatever obarun is using, they tried to explain it to me about trees and whats not and my head started spinning so here i am.  ;)  Probably s6 is the hardest one here to use but i bet it's easy too.  I think the point is just that they have so many because they can.  It's literally a piece of cake once you are not using systemd to swap out any init for any other init.  The hard part is removing the systemd tentacles and keeping them out.  Nasty bits are worse than kudzu.
Cat Herders of Linux

Re: A question about inits

Reply #10
I find S6 easy to handle. In days to come, I will (out of curiosity) try the others. That way, I can have a satisfactory answer to my own question. After all, there's no denying that we will have different responses, and the best way IMHO is just to try it all out and have my own opinion. I can't say which is which because I do not know the others well enough than how I am using S6.
S6