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Init scripts used to be mostly unportable since every distro shipped with their own support library. You could technically have a portable init script, but it w

Init scripts used to be mostly unportable since every distro shipped with their own support library. You could technically have a portable init script, but it would not behave like the rest of the distro's native init scripts in terms of status reporting etc. systemd units behave the same across all distributions. Another smaller thing: /etc/os-release replacing the various /etc/*-release files.

ori_b 7y ago
Cargo culting is the practice of blindly copying a solution without understanding why it makes sense and when it might not apply. You're describing the opposite.
- majewsky 7y ago
  Fictional Debian dev A: "Why do we have /etc/debian-release? Can't we have a release declaration file with a neutral name, like maybe /etc/os-release, in a format that all other distros can adopt?" Fictional Debian dev B: "That's how we've always done it. Plus if we touch it it might break some guy's script." It may not be exactly cargo culting, but at least an adjacent concept.
  - ori_b 7y ago
    And that's why we now have BOTH /etc/debian_version AND /etc/os-release. Systemd didn't lead to debian getting rid of the former. So now, not only do you have people writing code that behaves differently (or, more likely, breaks) on different OS versions, it has two different files that it will look at for this. I wonder how long it'll be before the contents of that file start resembling a user-agent string, complete with "Ubuntu-16.10/Compatible"
  - JdeBP 7y ago
    That's a story invented years after the fact without historical basis. The actual conversations amongst Debian developers went rather differently. * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=444678 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=444678 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659891 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659891 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659853 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659853 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=703677 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=703677 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=914287 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=914287

ori_b 7y ago

Cargo culting is the practice of blindly copying a solution without understanding why it makes sense and when it might not apply. You're describing the opposite.

majewsky 7y ago
Fictional Debian dev A: "Why do we have /etc/debian-release? Can't we have a release declaration file with a neutral name, like maybe /etc/os-release, in a format that all other distros can adopt?" Fictional Debian dev B: "That's how we've always done it. Plus if we touch it it might break some guy's script." It may not be exactly cargo culting, but at least an adjacent concept.
- ori_b 7y ago
  And that's why we now have BOTH /etc/debian_version AND /etc/os-release. Systemd didn't lead to debian getting rid of the former. So now, not only do you have people writing code that behaves differently (or, more likely, breaks) on different OS versions, it has two different files that it will look at for this. I wonder how long it'll be before the contents of that file start resembling a user-agent string, complete with "Ubuntu-16.10/Compatible"
- JdeBP 7y ago
  That's a story invented years after the fact without historical basis. The actual conversations amongst Debian developers went rather differently. * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=444678 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=444678 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659891 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659891 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659853 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=659853 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=703677 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=703677 * https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=914287 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=914287