To any new Linux users, this is a good example of Linux “antivax” mindset.
Actual Linux admins, people who use Linux at scale, people who design things and use Linux to do things disagree.
There is a reason why Redhat, Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch all ship with and recommend systemd as the startup system. ALL as in 100% of large Linux deployments on bare metal use systemd.
If you want to play with startup systems that’s fine there are obscure distros out there for you. Startup system swapping can be a fun hobby.
But don’t be tricked by the very loud but very small Linux “antivaxers” group.
Systemd fucking sucks, and it’s a very big issue in the Linux world, because it centralizes everything into what should be the simplest process of the OS. It has a huge attack surface (and many recent critical CVEs have happened due to systemd). It forces everything into their unit files, which are very flawed and lack features that previous systems actually had. One of the big reasons the enterprise Linux community is looking to Alpine instead of the more traditional RHEL or Ubuntu Server is exactly the lack of systemd.
Aside from that, on the personal side, systemd has bit me in the ass way more times than any of the more traditional systems. I wish it wasn’t so common. It’s very rapidly taking over the Linux ecosystem, limiting freedom to choose another init system. And it’s lead by a Microsoft employee.
It’s very rapidly taking over the Linux ecosystem, limiting freedom to choose another init system.
Nobody working with Linux professionally in 2026 would say this. Systemd has taken over and has been the defacto choice for a LONG TIME. The last production grade Linux to not use Systemd was rhel 6. Rhel 6 was released in 2010 and full support ended in 2016.
Also no companies are using Alpine for “lack of systemd” Companies aren’t installing alpine Linux on bare metal outside of embedded devices. The appeal of Alpine Linux is containerization or embedded. Alpine Linux lets you release 20mb container images compared to 200mb for even slim Debian images. This is a great thing. But not related to systemd.
If we look at what professionals working with Linux use on bare metal or even on non ephemeral cloud hosts we find RHEL / OEL / Rocky / Alma, Ubuntu LTS, Suse Enterprise, Amazon Linux, Azure Linux, and rarely Debian.
Yes there are outliers but antivax doctors are outliers too.
The grand majority of systemd haters have no idea why they hate systemd or what an init system even is, they just know their favorite youtuber told them “systemd bad” and blindly agreed.
Systemd ‘haters’ are the people who know better and learned from best-practice.
Systemd ‘haters’ are no more haters than your parents who told you not to eat candy all day were candy haters.
To any new Linux users, this is a good example of Linux “antivax” mindset.
Actual Linux admins, people who use Linux at scale, people who design things and use Linux to do things disagree.
There is a reason why Redhat, Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch all ship with and recommend systemd as the startup system. ALL as in 100% of large Linux deployments on bare metal use systemd.
If you want to play with startup systems that’s fine there are obscure distros out there for you. Startup system swapping can be a fun hobby.
But don’t be tricked by the very loud but very small Linux “antivaxers” group.
I dislike system D. I actively choose to use it tho because I don’t hate myself more then I dislikelt system D.
Give me a better option and I’ll use it. Till then I choose to not hate my self.
Linux system administrator here.
Systemd fucking sucks, and it’s a very big issue in the Linux world, because it centralizes everything into what should be the simplest process of the OS. It has a huge attack surface (and many recent critical CVEs have happened due to systemd). It forces everything into their unit files, which are very flawed and lack features that previous systems actually had. One of the big reasons the enterprise Linux community is looking to Alpine instead of the more traditional RHEL or Ubuntu Server is exactly the lack of systemd.
Aside from that, on the personal side, systemd has bit me in the ass way more times than any of the more traditional systems. I wish it wasn’t so common. It’s very rapidly taking over the Linux ecosystem, limiting freedom to choose another init system. And it’s lead by a Microsoft employee.
A few issues here.
Nobody working with Linux professionally in 2026 would say this. Systemd has taken over and has been the defacto choice for a LONG TIME. The last production grade Linux to not use Systemd was rhel 6. Rhel 6 was released in 2010 and full support ended in 2016.
Also no companies are using Alpine for “lack of systemd” Companies aren’t installing alpine Linux on bare metal outside of embedded devices. The appeal of Alpine Linux is containerization or embedded. Alpine Linux lets you release 20mb container images compared to 200mb for even slim Debian images. This is a great thing. But not related to systemd.
If we look at what professionals working with Linux use on bare metal or even on non ephemeral cloud hosts we find RHEL / OEL / Rocky / Alma, Ubuntu LTS, Suse Enterprise, Amazon Linux, Azure Linux, and rarely Debian.
Yes there are outliers but antivax doctors are outliers too.
The grand majority of systemd haters have no idea why they hate systemd or what an init system even is, they just know their favorite youtuber told them “systemd bad” and blindly agreed.
Linux tech types told me Linux windows