[Need] Migration Tips!

Just would like to make a note that Debian unstable finally made the switch to systemd at least in my case. Things that currently bother me that never happened in the old init is the constant fsck at every reboot. It's pretty annoying in terms of wanting a fast boot.

I don't want to disable it completely... time to read the docs.

I am not perfectly sure about how the fsck service for systemd works, I have never looked into it myself. However I do know that systemd honors the fsck flags in /etc/fstab, so just edit the file (making a backup first is certainly useful) and change the last number on each line to 0

This will probably not stop every fsck on boot, as I think systemd got its own service for this, but it is certainly worth a try.

Do note that you can actually check what is using the most time on boot with a simple command

Code:

systemd-analyze blame

My boot time is usually over 20 seconds, but if I disable netctl, which is what I use for network service on Arch, as well as the openvpn service I have started on boot, I get a boot time of 9 seconds. So having network services start on boot definitely adds to boot time.

That's really weird... it takes like 2-3 seconds for ifup/ifdown/etc get an IP from my router... so network has never taken that long for me.

Netctl is known for being a bit slow, and that combined with the fact that my wifi card got poor support on Linux makes it even slower. I expect it would be a lot faster if I used ethernet, and if my wifi card could get better drivers. Currently only the most recent broadcom-sta driver support my card.

I decided to time my boot, and it takes about 12,5 seconds from pressing powerbutton until I get login prompt. However, issuing systemd-analyze at once after logging in reports that boot is not yet completed. So obivously I can log in and start using my system before all systemd boot services have finished, my network simply does not work until the systemd service has finished connecting.

As for my Debian install, I was considering keeping it on stable. I will not need to spend much time maintaining it when keeping it on stable, and it can serve a very useful purpose in case an update cause Arch to be unbootable. I can simply boot up Debian then, check Arch website for any information regarding the issue, and even chroot into arch from Debian to downgrade packages.

My impression of Debian so far is an extremely solid and polished system and I can certainly see the attraction. There is a good chance that if Arch was not around, I'd be rolling with Debian sid.

Imho, I'm becoming a Debian fan. I still need to relearn a lot of linux/unix CLI tools for administration and IT stuff. I don't really regret going with unstable in the least as it's actually pretty stable.

If you go with debian sid,

sudo apt-get install apt-listbugs

That "software" hooks up with apt-get. Before making an install it will list all the bugs of a package with severity (critical, outstanding, etc). If you notice that it's a system breaking bug, you can skip the dist-upgrade with no problems at all. It's probably one of the most helpful tools that helps me maintain my system stable.

Debian stable, by the way you can backport the newest kernel if you want and still have a solid system. The only thing I don't like about stable is the old KDE version. Once jessie becomes the new stable I'll be moving TO an stable system, this will be next year.