Devuan to Debian and sysvinit to systemd.

[ahmadraniri]

About a half year ago, I decided to try devuan. I used debian for about 2 years before. I don't know, I kind of miss systemd feature like journalctl, then ability to disable service (though I can do it too when I use sysvinit), etc. Is it possible to change devuan to debian and replace sysvinit with systemd? Thanks.

[Bulkley]

Is it possible to change devuan to debian and replace sysvinit with systemd?

Probably by changing the sources.lists and doing

Code: Select all

# apt update && apt upgrade

Whenever I want to do something like that I do some important chores first. 1. A complete backup on another drive. I like clones but there are other methods. Just make sure you can recover. 2. I do tests in a VM (virtual machine). In your case install Devuan as a VM and experiment. Many, if not most, of my experiments fail but crashing a VM is not life threatening.

[CwF]

do some important chores first.

and as said in a VM!
Major reconstruction always works best when you take it apart first.
on the current source, install aptitude.
Go to a root tty, and run it.
Remove things, lots of things, almost everything. Your /home and basic layout will not be damaged.
Get it to a working boot to the cli. no programs, no DE, nothing. change the sources.list. Rebuild it...

I've done the above simply for practice, and to see what cruft is left behind.

Go small, first pick to install from debian, systemd. ONE package, see what it does, there's your answer.

Going big, change the kernel in the same run. TWO packages.

Look over the solution it presents.

[ahmadraniri]

Thanks, I did it, I made it.
Finally, I can replace devuan's init with systemd (to gain experience only) and I probably changed it into debian bullseye. I am able to boot.
Step I took were :

• Make sure all stuffs update

• Change repo (from devuan testing to debian bullseye.

• Install systemd (devuan forbade me, but with aptitude it's possible), got so many package removed (xorg stuffs and DE's). After Restart The init still not changed yet.

• Boot to My debian bullseye (I have dualboot with debian bulseye) then I chrooted my devuan (later become debian) and remove base-files, install base-files package from debian, install systemd-sysv (gave me a "changing init process).

• End the chroot stuffs then reboot.

[ahmadraniri]

Things I notice after the change are :

• dbus failed to start and still can't be started yet.

• My machine got freeze when switch to graphical interface (DE or WM), I don't know but I am enough sure dbus (dbus-daemon cause it)

• Some environtment variables got unset e.g. XDG_RUNTIME_DIR, etc.

I guess I need to investigate furtherly.

[arochester]

https://www.reddit.com/r/debian/comment ... ebian_and/

[ahmadraniri]

https://www.reddit.com/r/debian/comment ... ebian_and/

That's me, BTW. Hehe.

[NFT5]

I tried Devuan, back in the day. Loved the logo but hated the colour.

Nice to know there's an exit strategy for them though. Should we tell them?

[steve_v]

I tried Devuan, back in the day. Loved the logo but hated the colour.

Nice to know there's an exit strategy for them though. Should we tell them?

Personally I'm not a big fan of the colour scheme either, but since converting from Debian to Devuan is just as easy (and better documented), the "exit strategy" comment cuts both ways.
Now, if they could just get the conspiracy-theory-wacko-magnet problem their board seems to have under control...

In other news, maybe when systemd stops inventing new and novel ways to DOS your box, I'll even consider going back to Debian on my mission-critical machines.

[CwF]

I guess I need to investigate furtherly.

Check if dbus-X11 got installed.
You could try tasksel to fill in things.

[ahmadraniri]

Check if dbus-X11 got installed.
You could try tasksel to fill in things.

Installed, even I replace it with debian's package. still no luck, dbus-aemon running but when I enter openbox, I still can't move cursor can't use keyboard, All I can do is perform REISUB and REISUO to restart or shutdown. I can't switch to tty.

[oswaldkelso]

Is it possible to change devuan to debian and replace sysvinit with systemd?

Of course it is.

But seriously it takes about 20 minutes to install Debian, You do have your data backed up don't you? Just how much time have you spent piddling about on this. Unless of course you live under a bridge it makes no sense what so ever.

[ahmadraniri]

I ended up abandon my machine, it's more worth to spend my time for other things.

[stevepusser]

I ended up abandon my machine, it's more worth to spend my time for other things.

Wow, have you considered another distro or donating your machine to charity instead of abandonment?