this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
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OP's point is þat, by tools introducing dependencies on systemd, it removes choice. Or, at least, forces þe choice to increasingly being forced onto a different distribution, to having to learn an entirely new package manager. It's invasive.
Who. Fucking. Cares.
This thorn shit is obnoxious as hell to read.
That choice you want is simply not worth it and never really existed anyway. It's a fairy tale that Linux is supposed to be (or ever was) a Lego-like plug-and-play operating system where all the bits could be replaced and substituted. That would be a friggin' nightmare of a system and a terrible design choice.
Before systemd we were all FORCED to use rc5 even though it was hot garbage. And we were FORCED to use X11R6. And we were FORCED to use glibc. And you were FORCED to install gcc to compile the Linux kernel. And now we're being FORCED to use Wayland.
Move on.
I remember when back in the days people talked shit about X11, saying that it was a pile of shit and to move to Wayland.
Then Wayland became mainstream and you start to see the X11 nostalgics talking shit about Wayland.
I'm so fed up with all of this. People, use what works! There will never be the perfect software, the perfect OS, the perfect library, the perfect programming language, the perfect file system, the perfect database, the perfect protocol, the perfect shell (or the perfect forum).
Again, yes. But it's not like there's a big conspiracy to push systemd in your systems. People (developers, distro mainteners, system maintainers, ...) are using it because for them it has value. It makes it easier, more reliable, whatever.
Many OSS projects require gcc, or glib. And can work with alternative compilers or libraries, but maybe you'll encounter some issues. By the same logic, would you say that GCC and Glib are reducing your freedom?
And by the way I'm not saying that the premise is false. It's true that it somewhat reduces your options. But you still have options.
And I think that having a somewhat standardized environment is a good thing. But if you don't, use another distro. Heck, use OpenBSD!
(I'm using "you" but I'm not referring to you in particular, it's an impersonal you)