Options for those not wanting systemd as Wheezy EOL looms

[Lysander]

I was also disappointed with the current state of package management.

The 'current state' is the same as it's always been in Slackware, that's a big part of what makes the distro what it is.

[Caluser2000]

Been using Devuan Jessy for a bit now and highly recommend it to those who want a stable distro.

[HuangLao]

Not intending to resurrect a thread but I thought this might be of interest to some of you:

Slackware mini documentary/interview: Portuguese with English subtitles
https://youtu.be/DK_LyU4gv5U

voiceover in English:
https://youtu.be/nhSHH8pY6uw

[Lecram]

just curious.

Is it possible to use debian with eudev+consolekit2+runit rather than using devuan or without messing up.
I know that eudev and consolekit2 is not in the debian repo. but runit is in the stable repos
[url]
https://packages.debian.org/buster/runit
[/url]

[HuangLao]

just curious.

Is it possible to use debian with eudev+consolekit2+runit rather than using devuan or without messing up.
I know that eudev and consolekit2 is not in the debian repo. but runit is in the stable repos
[url]
https://packages.debian.org/buster/runit
[/url]

If its not in the repos then you have to create a FrankenDebian and its not really Debian anymore. elogind is in the repos and "should" work as a drop-in for those programs that "require" part of sytemd without the entire beastly thing. Otherwise if you want to stay with the Debian base use Devuan, MX Linux or antiX.

[eor2004]

EDIT: It would be good to include a little more info on MX Linux here from those who have used it

e.g.
- How easy [or not] is it to install?
- What package management system does it use?
- What distro is it based on?
- What DEs are available?
- Is there a wiki and a forum?

MX Linux is very good, I use it on a Lenovo T-61 laptop and everything works, it has even a Nvidia Quadro graphics card and it works perfect, it uses "apt-get" as package manager, the main desktop environment is xfce, I think they have KDE also but I'm not sure, maybe they have a couple more DE, they have a wiki and a forum, both are very good, very knowledgeable & kind people, it is based on Debían Stable but with a lot of "backports" as to have more up to date packages, the installer is relatively easy to use, not more difficult than installing buntu, linuxmint, or Debían, the installer is virtually the same as AntiX Linux and the long gone "Mepis Linux", in fact, this was the original installer AFAIK that Mepis Linux used. I remember when I used Mepis, it was a very beautiful KDE4 Debian based distro, it was the first distribution based on Debian that I used, it worked very good, I loved it.

[Lysander]

Thanks eor2004, but you are quoting a post which is nearly two years old. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then [for me at least], and my thanks as always go out to HuangLao for this thread and his relentless assistance both on this forum and off it.

Ironically enough, if anyone feels like discussing Slackware more, I'd be only too happy to try to help. Debian... I can't speak about so much these days!

[stevepusser]

FWIW, it appears that the Buster-based MX 19 will still offer the option at boot to use a custom and updated systemd-shim to use sysvinit, or to to boot with systemd if you desire.

The only real trouble we're having is getting Buster's "compiz-reloaded" to work on the newer XFCE 4.14 pre-release we're testing. I tried rebuilding the compiz binaries against any newer MX 19 libraries, but it didn't help, nor did booting with systemd just to check. I know that compiz works fine in a vanilla Buster XFCE install in Virtual Box that I have.

[HuangLao]

Thanks eor2004, but you are quoting a post which is nearly two years old. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then [for me at least], and my thanks as always go out to HuangLao for this thread and his relentless assistance both on this forum and off it.

Ironically enough, if anyone feels like discussing Slackware more, I'd be only too happy to try to help. Debian... I can't speak about so much these days!

Aw shucks...You're most welcome kind sir.

[edbarx]

Since I have been not using pure Debian for some years, I would like to ask whether it is still possible to run Debian with virtually no limitations, but with PID 1 other than systemd. More specifically, is it still possible to have systemd installed, but having its init component not used?

[pcalvert]

More specifically, is it still possible to have systemd installed, but having its init component not used?

Although I have not tried it, the answer to your question appears to be "yes".

See:
how to switch a Debian buster system from systemd to sys-v init
Knoppix 8.6 first wide public release to abandon systemd

Phil