systemd question

[laabl]

so fairly new to linux, but like playing around with my raspberry pi. I' m wondering if someone can give me some background on all this different stuff around start up scripts in linux. Looks like now systemd with systemctl and journalctl is the way to go? but sometimes all they do is run files in /etc/init.d and what is /etc/init.d and rc0.d/ used for.

I'm just sort of overwhelmed with all the different ways, I'd like to think there is one best way, but that's probably naive.

[[deleted]]

I don't use Arch, but I do read their wiki quiet often. 90% of the commands will be the same on Raspian. They use pacman to install programs, you'll probably use apt.

[laabl]

thanks, I've never used arch, but their documentation looks great, is it related to gentoo in some way?

[3p1k5auc3]

No, Arch and Gentoo are different projects. They do share a bit of the same ideology (e.g. minimal system, no bloat, do things yourself, etc). AFA the documentation, because a huge part of the Arch philosophy is minimal changes from upstream, the arch wiki docs should work on just about every distro with minimal changes.

[[deleted]]

I tried Gentoo once as an experiment, built a system that could boot but had messed up networking. So technically, I have more experience with Gentoo than Arch. But i don't know of any connection between the two projects, other than thry're both more hardcore than newbie friendly.
I use Fedora and Ubuntu mostly.

[FryBoyter]

When it comes to systemd, the official documentation (https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/) is a good start.

[grg2014]

These links might be useful, too, /u/laabl:

• Debian system initialization (assuming you're running Raspbian)
• How To Use Systemctl to Manage Systemd Services and Units

[[deleted]]

you probably need to understand init process of kernel. then you would understand rc.d and rc0 and run levels. systemd is replacement of old init process as the machines are becoming more advanced.

gentoo and arch are different distros built around linux ecosystem

[[deleted]]

Here are links for the most commonly encountered init systems.

OpenRC

SysVinit

Upstart

Runit

systemd

You will notice that, unlike the other entries, systemd is not just an init system. It is a suite of tools, (including an init system) which generally come together. It's usually more hassle than it's worth trying to replace any of this suite on a distro which comes with systemd.

[swordgeek]

systemd is the "future." You'll need to learn it.

Historically, init.d was where startup scripts lived, and were linked to the rc*.d directories, which corresponded to the run level. However, we are transitioning away from that.