| Headlines |
| 2026-02-02 |
Linux From Scratch dropps SysV init from future versions |
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Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project which provides instructions, packages, and patches for building a working Linux distribution using source code. The project, which is educational and the basis for some "keep it simple" distributions, is making a change to future versions of the LFS handbook. Bruce Dubbs explains: "With some regret, LFS/BLFS will no longer be developing the System V versions of the books. There are two reasons for this decision. The first reason is workload. No one working on LFS is paid. We rely completely on volunteers. In LFS there are 88 packages. In BLFS there are over 1000. The volume of changes from upstream is overwhelming the editors. In this release cycle that started on the 1st of September until now, there have been 70 commits to LFS and 1155 commits to BLFS (and counting). When making package updates, many packages need to be checked for both System V and systemd. When preparing for release, all packages need to be checked for each init system.
The second reason for dropping System V is that packages like GNOME and soon KDE's Plasma are building in requirements that require capabilities in systemd that are not in System V. This could potentially be worked around with another init system like OpenRC, but beyond the transition process it still does not address the ongoing workload problem."
The mailing list post from Dubbs goes on to note what is being lost in this change from a learning point of view: "As a personal note, I do not like this decision. To me LFS is about learning how a system works. Understanding the boot process is a big part of that. systemd is about 1678 C files plus many data files. System V is 22 C files plus about 50 short bash scripts and data files. Yes, systemd provides a lot of capabilities, but we will be losing some things I consider important."
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