systemd cat and GNU cat hugging a Linux cat.
cat head but no tail
this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025
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Neither Haiku or 9front use systemd, and they're both very interesting from a technical and design perspective (though not for their init systems).
If it has to be a Linux distribution I would say Damn Small Linux (DSL), because its really impressive just how few resources it requires. You can run x windows and even browse the web (using Dillo) on a system that's small enough to fit in the L3 cache of some modern CPUs.
I don't daily drive any of these though, so they might not count as my "favorite".
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I have to say as someone who uses NixOS I love systemd, because it makes a lot of things very easy. For example hardening services ( systemd-analyze security) or replacing cron (system timer).
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Totally Guix, it has no systemd and is able to roll back to the last working in case you break anything somehow
I was literally reading your guide about bonfire moments ago.
For those who don't have a problem with systemd, there is NixOS, which offers the same capabilities as guix, while having a larger community and way more available packages available in its repos.
I have to write startup scripts time-to-time and I have to say that I donβt miss at all the old init-system.
Not that systemd donβt have flaws, but in old init-system even simplest daemon took too many lines. Not to mention hacky comment definitions.
Guix
Defintely this, it's also the best option to run Fediverse instances such as Bonfire https://fishinthecalculator.me/blog/bonfire--guix-a-love-story.html
systemd is fine. The only people I've ever heard complain about it are lonely neckbeards pretending like their opinion somehow matters.
I've used Debian as a server system since it was using init.d. And do you know what I found? systemd is easier. And the fact that Debian of all distros decided to use it says a lot.
It says that you barely can have Systemd and alternatives in the same repo without shims and patches.
That wasn't the question though.
There are other init systems.
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GNU cat
You mean GNU cat?
Kolibri, which only needs a handful of RAM and disk space
I misread and wondered when did systemd release cat as in the software not the animal.
Artix is an under-appreciated gem.
So the old init.d system was better? Come on people, let's stop infighting. I have zero preference on init systems. You know why? Because they're just plumbing. Stop this nonsense. Do I click on an init system? Do I use the init system to check my email? Or play games? No. I know poettering can be controversial, but let's just move on. Run freebsd if you're so butt hurt.
So the old init.d system was better?
because those are our only two options...
I hate this argument so much, because it's just a fallacy.
There are (and have been) more solid init systems.
So much more than an init system though, which I think is why people don't like it. Personally, the only annoyance I have is I preferred log files over journald.
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Yeah, on a desktop I don't really mind whatever*. On a server however, I think systemd is great and I wouldn't want to miss it anymore.
* except Debian's frankenstein systemd + sysvinit combination. Burn it
Why should I not use systemd?
If you have to ask, then there's no reason not to. It's people who tinker with their systems that encounter issues with it, or more often random annoyances that add up over tme to those memes.
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Offtopic, but... Another ANeko user :D
System service managers like systemd, OpenRC, runit, or SysVinit often come down to user preference. While these systems are crucial for initializing and managing services on servers, where uptime, resource allocation, and specific daemon behaviors are important, their impact on a typical desktop or laptop is generally minimal.
For most personal devices, the primary functions of a service manager occur largely out of sight. As long as the system boots reliably and applications run smoothly, the underlying service manager rarely registers as a significant factor in the daily user experience.
For many, including myself, systemd simply works without much fuss. My choice to stick with it isn't due to strong conviction or deep technical analysis, but rather the simple fact that I've rarely, if ever, had to interact with it directly. For my personal desktop and laptop, it reliably handles booting, service management, and shutdown in the background. If it's not broken and isn't hindering my daily computing, there's no compelling reason to explore alternatives.
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As a user, why should I care whether the distro I use uses systemd? I use Mint and I don't remember having to interact with that kind of low-level nonsense. The distro maintainers can use whatever reasoning they want to pick these details.
As a user, why should I care whether the distro I use uses systemd?
Um, because as a user you may have to deal with services, or other systemd features?
Let's say you want to start ssh-agent when you login to your desktop environment. Well, there's a systemd service for that that you can enable, and on another distro you'd have to do it another way (autostart script or something).
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Void Linux, although I use NixOS nowadays.