Bug#765803: Status of prompting / notification on upgrade for init system switch?

[Russ Allbery]

Ian Jackson <ijackson at chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:

> I think it would be helpful to write this up as a resolution.  How
> about:

>  -8<-

>  1. In February the TC decided that the default init system for Linux
>     in Debian jessie would be systemd.  We have been asked what this
>     should mean for systems being upgraded from earlier Debian
>     releases:

>     Should existing installs be automatically switched to systemd ?
>     Should users be prompted ?

>  2. Normally when Debian changes the default provider of some service,
>     this means that new installs get the new provider.  We do not
>     transition existing installs to the new provider during upgrades,
>     unless the old provider is being removed.

>  3. The TC did not intend that our decision should extend to switching
>     existing Debian GNU/Linux installations from sysvinit to systemd.
>     Nor do we think that those users should be prompted to switch init
>     system.

>  4. So, if an existing installation has its init system switched, as a
>     result of upgrading or of installing packages, that is a bug
>     (unless it is not possible to retain the existing init system).

This implies that we had decided not to change init systems on upgrade.  I
don't believe that's correct.  I didn't express an opinion on it one way
or another and intended to leave that for further discussion within the
project.

I'm happy to vote for a resolution that clarifies that our previous
decision expressed no opinion on whether the init system should be changed
on upgrade.  Whether it should be upgraded is a question that has not come
before us until just now, and therefore clearly wasn't something we
decided last February.  If we need to decide that, we should do it in the
context of the current bug, not in the context of last February, and it's
not clear to me yet whether the TC even has actionable jurisdiction (in
that there may not even be a conflict).

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra at debian.org)               <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>