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Add to SafariWhen comparing systemd vs runit, the Slant community recommends runit for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux init systems?” runit is ranked 2nd while systemd is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose runit is:
After the system's one time tasks (stage 1) are done, the system services are started up in parallel. The operating system's process scheduler takes care of having the services available as soon as possible.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Full use of kernel features
No POSIX.
Pro GPL Licence
Pro Free and open source
Pro Easy to manage
Pro Easy to understand
Pro Doesn't cripple your hardware
Instead of assuming your computer is a static machine, systemd is designed with modern computers plug and play design in mind.
Pro Backed by Red Hat
Pro Cgroups processes control
Systemd groups all processes by services using Linux's cgroups. Think about memory/cpu/tasks/IO/Net limits and accounting for any service.
Pro Login management out of the box
Systemd contains a daemon called logind which is used for managing user logins.
Pro Default for many popular distributions
Systemd is the default init system for most popular Linux distributions (Arch, Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, etc.) Therefore there is an insane amount of support behind Systemd. Choosing Systemd means running with the herd, which comes with it's pros and few (or none for some people) cons.
Pro Fast, parallel startup
After the system's one time tasks (stage 1) are done, the system services are started up in parallel. The operating system's process scheduler takes care of having the services available as soon as possible.
Pro Small and Unix-like
One of the runit project's principles is to keep the code size small. As of version 1.0.0 of runit, the runit.c source contains 330 lines of code; the runsvdir.c source is 274 lines of code, the runsv.c source 509. This minimizes the possibility of bugs introduced by programmer's fault, and makes it more easy for security related people to proofread the source code.
The runit core programs have a very small memory footprint and do not allocate memory dynamically.
Pro Easy to use
Simple scripts linked to the proper directory is all that's needed to bring a service up at boot, and everything is up and running quickly.
Pro Init purity - does what an init system must do and nothing more
UNIX philosophy, easy to add new services, easy to manipulate, really fast.
Pro Supported by several Linux plumbers
Myself included. Development is no longer stalled.
Pro Runs on every POSIX system
Pro Fast and easy to use
Pro Faster boot time than with systemd
Faster on older systems, especially those running on HDDs.
Cons
Con UNIX-like isn't the same as the UNIX philosophy
One of the main argument that people who are against using systemd is that it does not follow one of UNIX'S core concepts: 'Do one thing and do it well'. Instead, systemd represents a collection of dozens of tightly coupled libraries, with responsibilities that exceed those of a simple init system, since it also tries to handle things like device management, power management, mount points, cron, encryption, syslog, network configuration etc...
Con Makes dependent products difficult to port
Software dependent on systemd. Becomes difficult to port to systems that lack systemd.
Con Binary logging
A binary log structure means that any tools you want to use to parse it will have to be aware of its format, and know how to deal with the ways it can become corrupted. Otherwise, it's not really possible in the easy sense.
Con Too monolithic
It tries to do too much - most people who use systemd aren't even aware of most of the features and don't really use them. It makes can be with complicated to deal with, and it's possible that in a few years this project will be a nightmare to maintain, and the users will feel the effects.
Con Overkill as an init system, resulting to unsafe init system
1.2 million code lines...
How this monster is controlled with such a huge size, for security leaks and other aspects?
How about if, the homed new service fails and your home folder may become unreadable or useless?
Con Aggressive marketing
It's trying to deprive people of freedom of choice.
Con Frequently change APIs
Con Makes maintaining a hassle
Con It's all or nothing
While it is technically possible to use software without SystemD, it really is true that it is "almost impossible" to use software without it, given that all the hard porting work to other init systems has not been done already for you, or given the fact that you are trying to install unported packages directly from the authors (either from binary, like a DEB file, or from source.) Consider the following:
Every major Linux distribution runs SystemD as an only option for init systems.
Around %95 of GNU/Linux users use SystemD, give or take.
SystemD makes things easier for lazy developers (at a cost, however.)
Therefore, most software packages that depend on an init system are developed with inherent and sole SystemD support, in favor of the status quo. While distributions such as Artix-, Gentoo-, and Void Linux have been able to correct packages that depend on SystemD, it is not the easiest to do so. Developers and users wanting to package their own software or build software from source may give up trying to work without SystemD since the software may need to be edited for extra compatibility.
Con The new version does not consider backward compatibility
They just remove the features they think are "incorrect".
Con Connects to Google DNS servers by default
Con Mindset of monopoly is behind it
Con Need glibc
Con Low-quality code
Con Unstable
Con Kills background processes after the user logs out by default
Con DDNS is done poorly between DHCP and DNS
Unlike ISC DHCP server/client, systemd-dhcp-client and systemd-dhcp-server cannot do DNSSEC, SVC, and many RRCODE. Stick with Bind9 and isc-dhcp-server instead.
Con systemd-networkd has poor network event handling for cable disconnect
When you disconnect the LAN cable, nothing happens in systemd-networkd. If you used non-systemd DHCP, you get a new subnet (if it changed).
Con systemd-DHCP cannot update subnet after reconnecting LAN from work to home
DHCP client that is builtin the systemd is really simple and rudimentary. Won't work with Verizon/Comcast DHCP ISP servers directly (must use their modem).
Other DHCP client can, like ISC dhclient, or dhcpcd.
Con Lead developer shows near complete lack of care for standards of quality needed for developing a part of an OS as integral as the init system is
Con Runs only on Linux
Con Not GPL
Con Slow
Con Development stalled
Last patch was back in 2014.
