euri-iso/docs/openrc.md

title, layout, parent, nav_order

title	layout	parent	nav_order
OpenRC	default	Init Systems	1

OpenRC

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.

⚠️ OpenRC is currently broken in Antergos NeXT. The online installer presents it as an option, but services don't enable correctly on installed systems. Until this is fixed, choose Dinit (the default), Runit, or S6 instead.

systemd vs OpenRC at a glance

	systemd	OpenRC
Philosophy	"One tool to rule them all"	"Do one thing well (Unix way)"
Logs	journalctl (binary logs)	Plain text files in /var/log/
Service mgmt	systemctl start/stop/enable	rc-service start/stop, rc-update add/del
Dependency	Parallel + automatic	Manual or explicit need/use/before/after
Config files	.service units (INI-like)	Shell scripts in /etc/init.d/
Size	~80+ binaries, 500k+ lines	~15 binaries, ~30k lines
Scope	PID 1 + logind + resolved + timedated + networkd + ...	Just PID 1

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.

What changes for you as a user?

Service management

Task	systemd	OpenRC
Start a service	sudo systemctl start sshd	sudo rc-service sshd start
Stop a service	sudo systemctl stop sshd	sudo rc-service sshd stop
Enable at boot	sudo systemctl enable sshd	sudo rc-update add sshd
Disable at boot	sudo systemctl disable sshd	sudo rc-update del sshd
Check status	systemctl status sshd	rc-service sshd status
List enabled	systemctl list-unit-files --enabled	rc-update show
View logs	journalctl -u sshd	less /var/log/messages

Key commands

# List all services with their runlevel
rc-status

# List enabled services
rc-update show

# Add a service to a runlevel
rc-update add <service> <runlevel>

# Remove a service
rc-update del <service> <runlevel>

# Start/stop/restart a service
rc-service <service> start
rc-service <service> stop
rc-service <service> restart

Runlevels in OpenRC work like directories under /etc/runlevels/:

/etc/runlevels/
├── boot       # Low-level system services (filesystems, udev, etc.)
├── sysinit    # System initialization (hwclock, hostname, etc.)
├── default    # Normal boot services (NetworkManager, sshd, etc.)
└── shutdown   # Shutdown services

Why did Antergos NeXT switch?

Three reasons:

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.

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.

3. systemd's age verification PR — #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.

OpenRC doesn't do any of that. It starts services and gets out of the way.

Will things break?

Probably not. Most desktop software doesn't care about the init system. Browsers, editors, games, media players — they all work the same.

Things that do care about systemd and won't work:

• systemctl, journalctl, loginctl, timedatectl — obviously
• GNOME (it dropped non-systemd support)
• Any .service file you try to run directly (they're systemd-native)

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.

Learning more

• OpenRC documentation
• Gentoo Handbook: OpenRC
• Comparison of init systems (Wikipedia)