[maemo-developers] Upstart vs. sysvinit (roadmap)

[From: Eero Tamminen]

Hi,

ext Tor wrote:
> Sorry if this has been discussed, but a search revealed nothing.
> 
> On the Maemo roadmap
> (http://wiki.maemo.org/Task:Maemo_roadmap/Fremantle) I noticed this:
> 
> "Device startup handled by Upstart instead of sysvinit. Location and
> format of init scripts differ."
> 
> This makes me a bit concerned. It sounds like moving away from what's
> standard (sysvinit), i.e. porting packages will need more work.
> Daemons I've ported in the past has been mostly just to drop in the
> Debian package, and a quick check of the init.d script for anything
> more complex than the slightly limited (but otherwise compatible)
> feature set available on Maemo. Very very little work.
> 
> Is there a very compelling reason to move away from something as
> standard as sysvinit? I haven't even heard about "Upstart".

Ubuntu has had Upstart since 2006:
	https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReplacementInit

And started using it in Feisty (i.e. two years ago):
	http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/upstart

In Debian it's only in experimental:
	http://packages.debian.org/source/experimental/upstart

(Although Ubuntu is Debian based, it has pretty major differences;
uses Upstart instead of sysvinit, uses Dash as /bin/sh instead of
Bash[1], has Python as essential package...)



	- Eero

[1] Using interactive shell like Bash as /bin/sh slows down bootup
     quite considerably.  I think Debian's going to do similar switch
     at some point.