c-ludenberg
442980a7af
why the FUCK did i think making an init selector was a good idea
artix themselves dont even ship services in their online installer
they just give you a bare system and say "figure it out" and
it WORKS because people can just install their init of choice
afterwards. but nooooo i had to be clever and build a whole
netinstall-add monstrosity with openrc/runit/s6 service groups
that broke constantly because basestrap --overwrite is a lie
and init packages conflict with each other and sddm-openrc +
lightdm-openrc both Provide: init-displaymanager and pacman
just goes 🖕 during install.
so anyway. dinit only now. you want something else? read
changing-init.md, i literally copied the artix wiki tutorial.
i am not maintaining four init service groups in netinstall.yaml
for the rest of my life. this is my villain origin story.
actual changes:
- ripped out offline calamares mode (was never truly offline)
- ripped out packagechooser.conf (good fucking riddance)
- added packagechooser_dm.conf so you can at least pick your DM
- added BYODE offline installer (bare system + btrfs + snapper,
no DE, you pacman -Sy plasma-meta yourself)
- added yay + snapper + btrfs-progs to rootfs
- shoved Init Services + DM groups into netinstall.yaml (dinit
only, obviously)
- updated every markdown file that mentioned another init like
they were cursed (they were)
- wrote changing-init.md so i can just paste the link next time
someone asks
- X-KDE-IsAdminApplication=true so KDE stops acting like
calamares is a virus (its not, its just desperate)
101 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
101 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: OpenRC
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layout: default
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parent: Init Systems
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nav_order: 1
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---
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# OpenRC
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**OpenRC** is a traditional init system used by Gentoo, Artix Linux, Devuan, Alpine Linux, and other non-systemd distros. It's proven, well-maintained, and about as simple as an init system can get while still being feature-rich.
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> **Note:** Earlier Antergos NeXT builds shipped OpenRC as an install-time option but it had issues with service enabling on installed systems. If you want to use OpenRC on Antergos NeXT, see [Changing init](changing-init) for manual setup instructions.
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## systemd vs OpenRC at a glance
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| | systemd | OpenRC |
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|---|---|---|
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| Philosophy | "One tool to rule them all" | "Do one thing well (Unix way)" |
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| Logs | `journalctl` (binary logs) | Plain text files in `/var/log/` |
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| Service mgmt | `systemctl start/stop/enable` | `rc-service start/stop`, `rc-update add/del` |
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| Dependency | Parallel + automatic | Manual or explicit `need/use/before/after` |
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| Config files | `.service` units (INI-like) | Shell scripts in `/etc/init.d/` |
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| Size | ~80+ binaries, 500k+ lines | ~15 binaries, ~30k lines |
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| Scope | PID 1 + logind + resolved + timedated + networkd + ... | Just PID 1 |
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OpenRC is used by Gentoo, Artix Linux, Devuan, Alpine Linux, and other non-systemd distros. It's not as mainstream as systemd, but it's proven and well-maintained.
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## What changes for you as a user?
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### Service management
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| Task | systemd | OpenRC |
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|------|---------|--------|
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| Start a service | `sudo systemctl start sshd` | `sudo rc-service sshd start` |
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| Stop a service | `sudo systemctl stop sshd` | `sudo rc-service sshd stop` |
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| Enable at boot | `sudo systemctl enable sshd` | `sudo rc-update add sshd` |
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| Disable at boot | `sudo systemctl disable sshd` | `sudo rc-update del sshd` |
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| Check status | `systemctl status sshd` | `rc-service sshd status` |
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| List enabled | `systemctl list-unit-files --enabled` | `rc-update show` |
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| View logs | `journalctl -u sshd` | `less /var/log/messages` |
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### Key commands
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```bash
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# List all services with their runlevel
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rc-status
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# List enabled services
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rc-update show
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# Add a service to a runlevel
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rc-update add <service> <runlevel>
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# Remove a service
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rc-update del <service> <runlevel>
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# Start/stop/restart a service
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rc-service <service> start
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rc-service <service> stop
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rc-service <service> restart
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```
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Runlevels in OpenRC work like directories under `/etc/runlevels/`:
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```
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/etc/runlevels/
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├── boot # Low-level system services (filesystems, udev, etc.)
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├── sysinit # System initialization (hwclock, hostname, etc.)
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├── default # Normal boot services (NetworkManager, sshd, etc.)
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└── shutdown # Shutdown services
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```
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## Why did Antergos NeXT switch?
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Three reasons:
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1. **systemd grew beyond an init system** — it now owns logind, resolved, timedated, networkd, homed, and more. It's no longer just PID 1. It's a full OS management suite with a scope that keeps expanding.
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2. **systemd dropped SysV compatibility** — version 260 (March 2026) removed `systemd-sysv-generator`, `rc-local.service`, and all legacy compatibility code. If your distro isn't 100% systemd-native, it breaks.
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3. **systemd's age verification PR** — [#40954](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954) (merged Mar 2026) added `birthDate` fields to userdb JSON for age verification compliance. Optional today, precedent tomorrow. We don't want our OS to ask for your age.
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OpenRC doesn't do any of that. It starts services and gets out of the way.
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## Will things break?
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Probably not. Most desktop software doesn't care about the init system. Browsers, editors, games, media players — they all work the same.
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Things that **do** care about systemd and won't work:
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- `systemctl`, `journalctl`, `loginctl`, `timedatectl` — obviously
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- GNOME (it dropped non-systemd support)
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- Any `.service` file you try to run directly (they're systemd-native)
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But everything you actually use day-to-day? Works fine. And if you need to check logs, they're in `/var/log/messages` — plain text, no `journalctl` required.
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## Learning more
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- [OpenRC documentation](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/OpenRC)
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- [Gentoo Handbook: OpenRC](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Full/Installation#OpenRC)
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- [Comparison of init systems (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_init_systems)
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