On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 11:08 AM, lee <[email protected]> wrote: > Rich Freeman <[email protected]> writes: >> >> Who is forcing anybody to use anything? > > Look around and you will find that systemd has taken over Linux, with a > few exceptions as in distributions like Gentoo. The taking over will > probably continue until you cannot use Linux anymore without using > systemd. If that's not forcing, then what is it?
They're not forcing you to use Linux at all, let alone Linux with systemd. Fedora v13 never contained systemd as far as I'm aware. Today it still works EXACTLY as it did then. Nobody is preventing you from using that. The same is true for any other distro that has adopted systemd. Your complaint isn't that people are forcing you to use systemd. Your complaint is that somebody isn't building a linux distro to your personal specifications free of charge. With FOSS we all contribute code that anybody can use for as long as they wish. The fact that you don't want to use the code that somebody wrote a few years ago and would rather they write updated software (perhaps with security vulnerabilities removed, features added, and so on) doesn't obligate others to create it for you. And that is my issue with this line of argument. It assumes that you have a right to demand that others create free software for you, and that they do it to your specifications. I get your frustration. There have been FOSS projects that were discontinued that I've thought were really valuable. However, while I mourn their indefinite slumber, I'm not going to complain that the devs chose to move on. I never paid them for what they gave me in the first place, and I have no right to demand more. The same is true of whoever maintains your init scripts. If you have a support contract that requires somebody to backport fixes to whatever you're using for 10 years, and they're breaking that contract, then I can only agree that you're in the right. Short of that, you've gotten what you've paid for. I understand your frustration, but I don't think the use of terms like "force" is justified. -- Rich
