[OT] systemd (was Re: www.gnucash.org back online)

[Geert Janssens]

A very long thread jumping up and down between platforms...

The only thing I want to add here is that while gnucash is listed as a gnome 
application on Ubuntu, it's not that tightly integrated that it depends on 
gnome let alone on systemd.

It mostly uses the same gui toolkit (gtk). Apart from a few details that's 
about it. What's more the core is in the proces of being ported away from glib 
and friends to c++, freeing the program even more.

Regards,

Geert

Op woensdag 8 februari 2017 00:45:51 CET schreef GWB:
> Well, can we be off topic and just warn GnuCash users on Windows and
> Mac (most of them?) from the beginning that they can skip reading this
> thread?  It might apply more directly to GnuCash users on Ubuntu,
> Debian, Linux, BSD, etc.
> 
> It is worth noting that the various BSD's (OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD,
> Dragonfly BSD) run gnucash quite well, but usually with an older
> release than current.  However, gnucash requires many dependencies
> along with X11, which some varieties of BSD consider a bloated
> nuisance; OpenBSD, for example, has what it calls a "default X
> environment", but the assumption is that the OpenBSD install will be a
> server/router/firewall, so why bother?  I have used gnucash on FreeBSD
> with xfce, and that works fine.  DragonFly BSD is an excellent little
> distro, and does indeed have gnucash.  It also has Hammer FS, which is
> a real accomplishment for a limited developer base.
> 
> Where systemd may affect gnucash (in user space) directly is the
> increasing integration between gnome and systemd.  I use ubuntu daily
> as a "swiss army knife" type of OS to go between Windows, Mac and
> Solaris, and both systemd and gnome seems way more complicated than
> they have to be.  I'm not an expert, but if you find yourself
> resorting to rc.local on a daily or weekly basis, that seems too
> often.  Gnome apparently is moving toward a "tighter handshake" with
> systemd.  Or, perhaps, systemd will eventually replace gnome.  Again,
> I'm not an expert, but either development seems bad to me.  If you
> can't login to a console, and then type "startx", run gnucash, and
> then exit the X Windows session gracefully, then I see that as a
> problem.
> 
> But I can't see that affecting most gnucash users, who I'm guessing
> are on Windows and Mac.  Gnucash users on Ubuntu might be affected;
> gnucash is listed in the gnome "sub section", which I take it means
> that a gnome installation provides the dependencies that gnucash needs
> on Ubuntu.  So others will have to figure out how to proceed if gnome
> and systemd become "too close", or if one replaces the other.  I don't
> know enough to say.
> 
> Where the BSD's shine, however, are as servers, routers, firewalls,
> and a lot of other applications (Border Gateway Protocol routers) that
> need to be fairly robust with a good level of security.  The pf
> firewall is outstanding (hence its name in PFSense), I have had BSD
> routers run for months without a problem, and intrusions are almost
> nil (but that's always dependent on the sysadmin, no matter how good
> the OS).
> 
> But the convenience of Ubuntu or Debian in a Docker environment would
> outweigh the effort of switching a container over to FreeBSD.
> FreeBSD, perversely, also runs docker, which is odd because FreeBSD
> has had "Jails" for years.  Gentoo might be a viable alternative, but
> also more work than necessary.  SMF (in Solaris and SmartOS) does some
> things very well, but I never got past the xml code in the manifest
> files.
> 
> I would not avoid Debian or Ubuntu because of systemd or gnome, but I
> would want to have an alternative if necessary.  Gentoo is a
> candidate; you can use runit, OpenRC, and dumb-init for linux
> containers.  Systemd is also an option on Gentoo, if you want it.
> 
> In user space, that means that one of the best reasons for using
> gnucash is that it runs on a variety of OS platforms.  If one of them
> becomes unworkable, switch to another, and still use gnucash.  When I
> become annoyed by their political idiocy, or get tired of giving
> MicroSoft or Apple too much money, I use BSD or linux.
> 
> Gordon
>