On 18 May 2017 at 17:48, Patrick Bartek <nemomm...@gmail.com> wrote: > > A while ago, I initiated the "If Linux Is About Choice ..." thread > about why there is no choice of inits during an initial install. > > Since that time, I've tested several systemd-less distros[1] as well as > Stretch as replacements for my aging Wheezy system. With Stretch my > plan was to see if I could replace systemd as the init without removing > it just leaving its components (some or all as necessary) to meet > dependencies without it breaking the system That way there would be no > need for third party repos or jumping through hoops to keep a > systemd-less working. I figured it would be a somewhat difficult, time > consuming process. However, I made a discovery during these tests: The > Debian developers had already done it for me. They made switching from > systemd as the init to sysvinit or runit easy just by issuing a couple > commands. Here's what you do. > > First, install Stretch as you normally would, systemd, et al. I chose > LXDE for the GUI as it has no direct systemd dependencies, and it uses > Openbox as the window manager which I normally use in lieu of a desktop > environment anyway. This was quicker and easier testing-wise than > starting with a terminal-based system as I normally would, and building > up from there. > > To switch to sysvinit, as root: > > apt-get install sysvinit-core > > and reboot. Done! systemd components are still on the hard drive, > except systemd-sysv has been removed. There is also no systemd > supervision either as far as I can tell. > > To switch to runit-init is an easy 2-step process. Do a standard > install as before.[2] Then add runit supervision first before > installing runit-init. As root: > > apt-get install runit-systemd > > reboot, then > > apt-get install runit-init > > Reboot. Done! The latter command removes systemd-sysv during the > install. > > These new init set ups survive apt-get upgrade or dist-upgrade even if > systemd components are upgraded. Systemd as init does not get > reactivated. Tested and verified. I can find no systemd pinning > either. > > I now have two Stretch systems running in VirtualBox. One a full LXDE > desktop using runit for both the init and supervision, and the other > with just Openbox and lxpanel as the GUI, and sysvinit and runit for > supervison. No problems at all with either. > > > B > > Well, I'll be hornswaggled..... Hallelujah!
MF > [1] AntiX, MX Linux, SalixOS and Void Linux. > > [2] With either above options, you can't go from an init other than > systemd to another init. apt-get install <chosen init> fails due to > systemd-sysv being missing. > >
