Head_on_a_Stick wrote:For the alternative init systems shell scripts are used instead and these require more skill to create than a unit file and are consequently more likely to be buggy.
Shell scripts can still be replaced, provided a script or executable does their job. When I was still coding for Devuan, I made this suggestion, but it was thrown out of the window.
Any init that uses shell scripts to run daemons can be modified to run them using an alternative configuration format like unit files. The counter argumentation against my proposal, and here, I am being very polite, was the exaggeration that this would require a mammoth task.
Shell scripts can be kept where they exist, and unit files can be used simultaneously, if an init provides a way to do so. This can be easily done by a single shell script which runs a daemon, which in turn, handles unit files and shell scripts.
So, this would be like this:
Code: Select all
sysvinit/antique init => shell scipt => daemon initialisation process (starts 1 & 2)
1) sysvinit shell scripts
2) unit file execution
Essentially, Devuan's criticism was my suggestions are too generic. Like a group of primary school pupils they asked for hands-on experience, before looking at things from an abstract point for view.
So yes, systemd unit files are the best. IMO.
Unit files can be integrated into antique inits as shown above.
For those who are unaware of how the last GR went down, I present dasein's drill-down analysis: