An alternative to systemd
Command Line – runit
© Lead Image © Sergey Nivens, 123RF.com
If you find systemd needlessly complicated, runit offers an easy-to-use, minimal init alternative.
On Unix-like systems like Linux, init is the first process to run during bootup, and the one that controls all other processes. For years, most distributions have used SysVinit, an init inspired by the one used in Unix System V. However, in 2012-15, the majority of distributions switched to systemd, which not only provides init services, but an administrative overlay of the entire operating system. Since then, a variety of simpler inits have been written by those who find systemd needlessly complicated. One of the best-known of these alternative inits is Gerrit Pape's runit [1], a collection of utilities designed to be a minimal and easy-to-use init system.
Runit boots and shuts down a system in three stages. Like SysVinit, runit uses runlevels, but, by default, it only uses two: default, which runs all the services linked in /var/service, and single, which is used for rescue and recovery. Other runlevels can be added if desired [2].
Runit's structure offers several advantages:
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