In the past Linux used to be about choice. Choice for the end-user that is. However, ever since systemd showed up freedom of choice was more and more pushed to the background. Over the years, systemd made many changes to how linux works without even asking me if I was OK with that. Even a simple notice of the changes was apparently too much to ask for them. I've spent many hours searching for an answer to the new problems introduced by systemd, changing my scripts to make it work again, and so on. And I never got paid by them so clearly, my time and efforts mean nothing to the systemd developers. And I'm not the only one.
Some systemd related quotes I found on the internet:
"I feel like I am no longer in control of my system due to systemd."
"Thank you, that's what I feared : some of it is hardcoded. That "we know better than you" attitude from the systemd team is tiring me. Well I'm not recompiling systemd just for this, so I'll just get rid of it all as you suggested when I have some time to do it."
A more in-depth discussion about how systemd made it into debian:
https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=120652
It's hilarious to see that most people using or even defending systemd don't even need systemd at all... The only case I found for systemd is when you need hot-swapping for your hard drives. This comes into play when you have a Raid setup. But most people don't even use that...
For minimal setups and setups on older hardware, a systemd-free system performs much better in my experience. And if you want to run a current linux on a non-64bit system, a non-systemd linux is your only option.
Choices for a systemd-free linux:
- Devuan
- Slackware
- Gentoo
This list is not complete as other distros exist that are usually based on one of these 3 distros. Devuan is probably the easiest for most people, as Slackware and Gentoo require more in-depth knowlegde of linux.