Up2date: applies to Grml releases version 2011.12
+Up2date: applies to Grml version 2017.05
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@Codename of Grml 2011.12 is "Knecht Rootrecht". It's a wordplay on - Knecht - Ruprecht, which translates as Farmhand Ruprecht or Servant - Ruprecht.
- -Codename of Grml 2012.05 is "Ponyhof", AKA "Life Ain't No Pony Farm".
+Codename of Grml 2017.05 is "Freedatensuppe", which is + a wordplay (free data soup) on an austrian dish called Frittatensuppe. + (We stumbled upon this wordplay through a tweet from Barbara Wimmer, + referencing a flyer based on a shirt by zwerkstatt.
The switch from file-rc to systemd happened for various reasons. + Grml used file-rc for many years, mainly because it provided a better + way to control startup behavior via its /etc/runlevel.conf configuration + than with using sysvinit. Though for us Grml developers this also meant + that whenever there have been any changes in Debian's startup + configuration we had to compare our /etc/runlevel.conf setup with what a + normal Debian system would give us. Users who wanted to remaster Grml + with a custom startup procedure as well had to practically fork + maintenance of the /etc/runlevel.conf file. This didn't only mean + tracking new features/services, but also solve any possible issues + around it - duplicating efforts and wasting developers time + unnecessarily. Lately we also started to see problems that no one else + seemed to have (or care about enough), for example with multiple network + cards we ran into race-conditions with resolvconf. Problems like that + turned out to be release stoppers for us.
+ +systemd on the other hand provides great documentation, service + supervision, takes care of parallel service startup and is the default + init system on most Linux distributions nowadays. This means more users, + better testing and integration. Logging, startup time investigation (to + get a fast boot procedure) and identifying failed service startups with + sysvinit/file-rc was always hard, unreliable or even impossible under + certain conditions. bootlogd was unreliable (while `journalctl -b` is + available out-of-the-box with systemd), bootchart not nicely integrated + (while systemd-analyze blame/critical-chain works out-of-the-box) and we + aren't aware of any equivalence for e.g. `systemctl --failed`.
+ +While migrating our stack to systemd is not fully finished + yet, its switch - at least so far - was easier than expected. It also + turns out that it gives users who want to remaster Grml (or build their + very own ISOs from scratch using grml-live) more flexibility and control + over the startup process. systemd's override.conf mechanism and preset + feature provides the flexibility to overwrite unwanted behavior, without + losing the option to use existing defaults.
+ +Last but not least we think it's good that systemd is actively + maintained and receives attention. The sysvinit/file-rc ecosystem was + stagnating/non-existend for too many years. Grml used its own initrd + implementation in its very beginnings, until a more broadly available + initramfs-tools/ live-boot solution appeared, broadening the user base, + sharing goals amongst different (live) distributions. Back in the days + Grml - like many other live distributions - had to implement hardware + recognition on its own. While udev received lots of complaints back + then, its integration actually solved all the hardware recognition for + the good. systemd's vision of stateless systems is something which helps + building live systems like Grml.
+ +While we don't claim that systemd is perfect and doesn't have its + issues and drawbacks (like any software), we're happy about its + existence and more than happy about development and support by Debian's + systemd folks.
+