4 ms·

It's a shame there isn't a distribution (at least that I'm aware of) which is dynamic and modular enough to allow choosing your own "process manager" at install

It's a shame there isn't a distribution (at least that I'm aware of) which is dynamic and modular enough to allow choosing your own "process manager" at install or even on boot.

jchw 2y ago
I believe Gentoo supports multiple init systems, but it's definitely a challenge no matter what.
- colechristensen 2y ago
  Gentoo is fun and does indeed give you the choice but…
  - edoceo 2y ago
    But.... nothing. Gentoo is awesome. I have free KoolAid.
  - isatty 2y ago
    Compilation is so fast on modern processors that it’s not even much of a hassle. Portage is the best package manager out of any distribution. There are no buts. Gentoo is awesome.
    - imp0cat 2y ago
      I am told that there actually are precompiled packages available in Gentoo now.
      - blaerk 2y ago
        this is correct, there's even a precompiled kernel (dist-kernel), it works great! and when packages doesn't match your system settings, portage will pull the source and compile them. it's great!
    - tmtvl 2y ago
      YMMV, I spend a couple of days last summer trying to get a Gentoo install with KDE running and after I changed something which caused a libc recompile, which took over an hour, I was so fed up I went back to Arch. ...granted, my potato only has an i7-6700 Skylake with 4 cores+hyperthreads for 8 threads at 3.40GHz, it's not one of those AMD Ryzen things, but still: I'm not running GNU/Linux because I want to buy a new PC every year.
mtlmtlmtlmtl 2y ago
Artix Linux does this. Arch sans systemd, and you have a choice between openrc, runit, s6, dinit, or even some combination of the 4. Any daemon type package will have a -runit/s6/dinit/openrc variant that includes the relevant scripts/configs.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
lloeki 2y ago
In a sense, nixpkgs is that. And AIUI that's exactly that the author refers to by "95% is nixpkgs". The NixOS part (the module system and modules) is in no small part integration between the init-agnostic nixpkgs and the init system (systemd). That's what enables this project, as well as nix-darwin (integrates with launchd) and NixBSD. The traditional way (pacman, apk, apt...) is for packages to carry the init files for the service they package.
rahen 2y ago
That's exactly what Devuan does. You pick your init system at install. https://www.devuan.org/os/init-freedom https://www.devuan.org/os/init-freedom
- ethagnawl 2y ago
  Oh, that's interesting. I was vaguely aware of Devuan but I thought it's distinguishing feature (compared to Debian) was that it used ... _some init system_ that wasn't systemd.
LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/unofficial-antix-23-init-divesity-spin/ https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/unofficial-antix-23-... Antix is essentially Debian for Dummies on crappy hardware running live in RAM, or otherwise unorthodox ways. It may seem ghettoish, but the thing about it is you can mod/remaster it most easily and make it YOURS without much fuss. And because of running from RAM it really flies.

It's a shame there isn't a distribution (at least that I'm aware of) which is dynamic and modular enough to allow choosing your own "process manager" at install or even on boot.

jchw 2y ago

I believe Gentoo supports multiple init systems, but it's definitely a challenge no matter what.

colechristensen 2y ago
Gentoo is fun and does indeed give you the choice but…
- edoceo 2y ago
  But.... nothing. Gentoo is awesome. I have free KoolAid.
- isatty 2y ago
  Compilation is so fast on modern processors that it’s not even much of a hassle. Portage is the best package manager out of any distribution. There are no buts. Gentoo is awesome.
  - imp0cat 2y ago
    I am told that there actually are precompiled packages available in Gentoo now.
    - blaerk 2y ago
      this is correct, there's even a precompiled kernel (dist-kernel), it works great! and when packages doesn't match your system settings, portage will pull the source and compile them. it's great!
  - tmtvl 2y ago
    YMMV, I spend a couple of days last summer trying to get a Gentoo install with KDE running and after I changed something which caused a libc recompile, which took over an hour, I was so fed up I went back to Arch. ...granted, my potato only has an i7-6700 Skylake with 4 cores+hyperthreads for 8 threads at 3.40GHz, it's not one of those AMD Ryzen things, but still: I'm not running GNU/Linux because I want to buy a new PC every year.

mtlmtlmtlmtl 2y ago

Artix Linux does this. Arch sans systemd, and you have a choice between openrc, runit, s6, dinit, or even some combination of the 4. Any daemon type package will have a -runit/s6/dinit/openrc variant that includes the relevant scripts/configs.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

lloeki 2y ago

In a sense, nixpkgs is that. And AIUI that's exactly that the author refers to by "95% is nixpkgs". The NixOS part (the module system and modules) is in no small part integration between the init-agnostic nixpkgs and the init system (systemd). That's what enables this project, as well as nix-darwin (integrates with launchd) and NixBSD. The traditional way (pacman, apk, apt...) is for packages to carry the init files for the service they package.

rahen 2y ago

That's exactly what Devuan does. You pick your init system at install. https://www.devuan.org/os/init-freedom https://www.devuan.org/os/init-freedom

ethagnawl 2y ago
Oh, that's interesting. I was vaguely aware of Devuan but I thought it's distinguishing feature (compared to Debian) was that it used ... _some init system_ that wasn't systemd.

LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/unofficial-antix-23-init-divesity-spin/ https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/unofficial-antix-23-... Antix is essentially Debian for Dummies on crappy hardware running live in RAM, or otherwise unorthodox ways. It may seem ghettoish, but the thing about it is you can mod/remaster it most easily and make it YOURS without much fuss. And because of running from RAM it really flies.