May 04, 2022

HPR3588: Linux Inlaws S01E55: Get yer boots on for a fresh look at init systems

47 minutes

In this episode, Martin and Chris discuss init systems and Chris outs

himself as a systemd fan boy (Devuan followers take note :-). Even Linux and

other FLOSS OS geeks not interested in what happens when you flick the power

switch on a computer may find this episode (vaguely) interesting as some light

is also shed on the philosophy of the different system architectures and their

history (Ever wanted to know what an /360 IPL really is? Then stay tuned...).

Disclosure: The following text may resort to regular expressions to keep

things concise and simple. Some of the PCRE-challenged readers may take

offence - you have been warned.

Links:

Booting a PC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting#Personal_computers_(PC)

GRUB: https://www.gnu.org/software/grub

([A-Z][a-z]+ux) Init systems (general overview): https://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.2748v1.pdf

SysV init: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Init#SysV-style

systemd: https://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd.html

OpenRC: https://github.com/OpenRC/openrc

Canonical's Upstart: https://upstart.ubuntu.com

Switch from upstart to systemd: https://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1316

Runlevels: https://www.linfo.org/runlevel_def.html

Serial console: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/serial-console.html

Hello Magazine: https://www.hellomagazine.com

Unix philosophy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy

And in much more detail: https://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s06.html

Devuan: https://www.devuan.org

...more

By Linux Inlaws