this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Gotta love Linux newbies talking about their first experiences and they've already tried 3 distros that I have barely on my radar. A few months in, I hardly knew what SystemD was and this guy's already on a distro that explicitly removes it.
While I just land a recent Debian stable on my laptop, install cargo for new Rust apps (for things like jujutsu), and Guix package manager (for stuff like kakoune or vis), and call it a day.
Well, after 25 years the pursuit of agressive distro-overoptimization becomes a bit boring. But who am I to criticize what other people spend their free time with?
The guy clearly has some previous experience.
Been using Linux for. A year now, srill don't know what it is
I started on Mint and then switched to Kubuntu But just work
At its core, SystemD coordinates and launches all the services in your operating system. So, it is essential for the boot process, but also does scheduling, meaning you could run a backup script every night with it, for example.
That's the simple answer. But in truth, SystemD is often criticized for doing too much, so it's hard to describe what it really does. For example, you can also manage network interfaces via SystemD.
Kind of the goal of SystemD is to provide common plumbing which works the same across distros, so that when you configure your services or network interfaces etc. on Ubuntu, it works the same as on openSUSE or Arch or whatever.