Distribution plans of systemd developers
One for All
© Lead Image © Andrey-Pavlov, 123RF.com
Systemd developers are working on a system that might make the differences between the many Linux distributions easier to tolerate for software users, developers, and vendors – and the Btrfs filesystem plays a central role in their ambitious plans.
Trying to keep up with the release cycle of many Linux distributions can be costly and time consuming. You get your software working for one release, and an update breaks it all over again. Vendors that want to ensure their software runs on Linux computers sometimes simply develop for an operating system version with a long support window, such as an LTS version of Ubuntu, a Debian stable, or RHEL. Problems can occur when the user doesn't even bother to design for compatibility with intermediate versions, or when the user wants to switch to another distro. The cost of keeping pace with the ABI and API changes in Linux is frequently too high.
Lennart Poettering and some other systemd developers have sketched an ambitious proposal [1] addressing the compatibility issues that plague Linux updates. The goal of the plan is to make certain parts of a Linux distribution uniform for all users, admins, developers, and software vendors. If the developers succeed in their efforts, the result will be improved software distribution and security, as well as more seamless support for server, cloud, and embedded environments.
Poettering summarizes the benefits of the plan as follows:
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.