3 ms·

systemd-coredump is vuln, systemd-oomd kills the wrong stuff, and you don't even learn that these programs exist (and are running on your system) until you find

systemd-coredump is vuln, systemd-oomd kills the wrong stuff, and you don't even learn that these programs exist (and are running on your system) until you find out from a CVE or a blog post detailing how to mitigate the problem[1]. [1]: https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/linux/SystemdOomdNowDisabled https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/linux/SystemdOomdNo... And then, there are very few alternatives, because more and more software requires systemd (and even if most things still don't, so much stuff requires glibc so Alpine or OpenBSD aren't always very good as alternatives).

jwilk 4y ago
The systemd-oomd post discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33894469 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33894469 (2 weeks ago, 134 comments)
blueflow 4y ago
You can turn the situation around: Pick some non-systemd OS, stick to it, and avoid software that does not run on it. You will end up with the old and boring tech, but it will be robust and run more reliable in the long term. I've been running Alpine Linux in production for 4 years now.
- CameronNemo 4y ago
  You will end up with the old and boring tech Not always. I have sway and pipewire running smooth as can be on my systemd-free workstation. As well as recent releases of Linux, glibc, Mesa, and Firefox. All the essentials are there and up to date for me!
  - adrian_b 4y ago
    That's true. I am using Gentoo with no systemd and with the latest versions of all programs that I am interested in.
- rollcat 4y ago
  Unfortunately systemd & glibc (or even macOS) are usually the more pragmatic choice. I'd love to have the freedom to ignore them, but even outside of work, there is software (like games) that I want to run that doesn't play nice with anything more sane.
  - blueflow 4y ago
    The glibc 2.26 breakages (including the ucontext thing) were what made me stick to musl/Alpine. This was in 2017, around the same time poettering did the "i don't consider this much of a problem"-things on github.
- 4khilles 4y ago
  Alpine's great. My entire homelab runs on it. Only complaint I have is its IPv6 support sucks. I have to hack together a bunch of scripts to get a reasonable network configuration.
  - blueflow 4y ago
    I had no trouble with IPv6. For static config i add it to /etc/network/interfaces, for dynamic config i use dhcpcd without issues.
- zajio1am 4y ago
  Note that musl libc in Alpine Linux has significantly smaller default thread stack size than glibc (128 kB vs 8 MB), therefore software developed and tested with glibc can easily crash with stack overflow.

jwilk 4y ago

The systemd-oomd post discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33894469 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33894469 (2 weeks ago, 134 comments)

blueflow 4y ago

You can turn the situation around: Pick some non-systemd OS, stick to it, and avoid software that does not run on it. You will end up with the old and boring tech, but it will be robust and run more reliable in the long term. I've been running Alpine Linux in production for 4 years now.

CameronNemo 4y ago
You will end up with the old and boring tech Not always. I have sway and pipewire running smooth as can be on my systemd-free workstation. As well as recent releases of Linux, glibc, Mesa, and Firefox. All the essentials are there and up to date for me!
- adrian_b 4y ago
  That's true. I am using Gentoo with no systemd and with the latest versions of all programs that I am interested in.
rollcat 4y ago
Unfortunately systemd & glibc (or even macOS) are usually the more pragmatic choice. I'd love to have the freedom to ignore them, but even outside of work, there is software (like games) that I want to run that doesn't play nice with anything more sane.
- blueflow 4y ago
  The glibc 2.26 breakages (including the ucontext thing) were what made me stick to musl/Alpine. This was in 2017, around the same time poettering did the "i don't consider this much of a problem"-things on github.
4khilles 4y ago
Alpine's great. My entire homelab runs on it. Only complaint I have is its IPv6 support sucks. I have to hack together a bunch of scripts to get a reasonable network configuration.
- blueflow 4y ago
  I had no trouble with IPv6. For static config i add it to /etc/network/interfaces, for dynamic config i use dhcpcd without issues.
zajio1am 4y ago
Note that musl libc in Alpine Linux has significantly smaller default thread stack size than glibc (128 kB vs 8 MB), therefore software developed and tested with glibc can easily crash with stack overflow.