This. I would have been happy with anything that turned initscripts, which are often hundreds of lines, including tons of decisions and variables, into a simple

This. I would have been happy with anything that turned initscripts, which are often hundreds of lines, including tons of decisions and variables, into a simple declarative conifguration file. systemd seems to do OK at that, though I am vaguely uncomfortable with how tightly coupled things are in a systemd system.