[Pkg-systemd-maintainers] systemd-shim uploaded to NEW

[Steve Langasek]

Control: affects 726763 systemd

I've just uploaded the systemd-shim package to the NEW queue.  This provides
an implementation of the org.freedesktop.systemd1 dbus service which is
compatible with non-systemd-using systems.  I have verified this service
works with gdm3 in unstable, at least to the point of enabling shutdown from
the GUI menu.

There are, however, some remaining problems to sort out before systemd-shim
will solve the hard dependency of GNOME on systemd in unstable.  The systemd
maintainers have rejected my request to split the systemd binary package
between the init system and the dbus services.  This is problematic, because
systemd-shim provides an independent implementation of some, but not all, of
the systemd dbus services: to be precise, it provides only
org.freedesktop.systemd1.service, not any of
org.freedesktop.hostname1.service, org.freedesktop.locale1.service,
org.freedesktop.login1.service, and org.freedesktop.timedate1.service.  It
does not provide these services because the existing implementations from
systemd are perfectly usable on a stand-alone basis without pid1==systemd.
As a result, systemd-shim has a Conflict with systemd (which is correct),
but GNOME needs to be able to depend on all of the above dbus services
installable together.

So I repeat here my request that the systemd maintainers make a suitable
split of the systemd binary package, so that systemd-shim will be
coinstallable with the systemd-provided implementations of the other dbus
services.  The only alternative I see is for systemd-shim to declare a
Replaces: against systemd without a Conflicts, which would have the known
problematic effect that anyone removing the systemd-shim package again
(perhaps because they are choosing to switch to systemd) will be left
without the Replaced files on disk.  I would prefer users not to be
subjected to such poor integration, on top of the problems they've already
been made to endure as a result of the GNOME packages gaining an
ill-coordinated dependency on an init system; but of the available choices,
this seems to be the lesser evil if the systemd maintainers continue to
insist on a monolithic binary package.

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
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