[systemd-devel] I wonder… why systemd provokes this amount of polarity and resistance

[Rob Owens]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lennart Poettering" <lennart at poettering.net>

> We are always interested in technical feedback.

I have seen this comment several times from the systemd devs, and I don't doubt it.  But I think much of the criticism of systemd is not technical. It has a more social/political nature, and I think you should be interested in that feedback as well (even if it is technically un-interesting).

Here is an example of what I consider a social/political problem stemming from technical decisions:

Say you are a housing developer.  After many calculations, you have decided that the best design for housing is a cube.  It has a high volume-to-surface-area ratio, which allows it to house the most people with minimal heating/cooling loss to the outside environment.  It is easier to build than a sphere (which would have a higher volume-to-surface-area ratio).  To further maximize efficiency, each building will be a multi-unit dwelling.  Interior units will have very little heat transfer to the outside, because the surrounding units help insulate them.

However, I don't want to share walls with another family, so I decide to buy a standalone house even though it is technically less efficient.  That's my choice, and choice is great, right.  But then I try to buy an air conditioner (cooling unit), and I find out that it is only compatible with your multi-dwelling cube house.  Why?  Because you have integrated some wonderful sensor technology into your buildings that the air conditioner manufacturer wants to take advantage of.  

So now I have a choice:  live in the house of my choice with no air conditioner, or live in your building with an air conditioner.

If you had designed your sensor system to be a separate piece, rather than integrating it directly into the building, I could buy any house I want and still have an air conditioner.  But because of your design choices (as well as the choices of the air conditioning manufacturer), my choice of housing is limited or even eliminated.  Tightly integrating the sensor system into the building may have been the technically best solution, but it has negative consequences in non-technical areas.

I hope you will give consideration to the non-technical as well as the technical when making your design decisions.

In case anybody's having trouble with the analogy:

The cube house is systemd.
The sensor technology is logind.
The air conditioner is pretty much any Gnome application.
The non-cube house is any other init system besides systemd.

-Rob