The MX Linux team has officially released MX Linux 25 “Infinity”, the next major version of the popular Debian-based distribution, now built on Debian 13 “Trixie”.
The new version ships in several editions—Xfce, KDE Plasma, and Fluxbox—each updated to their latest stable versions. The release includes Xfce 4.20, Plasma 6.3.6, and Fluxbox 1.3.7.
Most ISO images come with the Linux kernel 6.12 LTS from Debian’s stable repositories, while the AHS (Advanced Hardware Support) variants feature the 6.16 Liquorix kernel for better performance on newer hardware.
The major change is that all releases now include systemd by default, although SysVinit variants of the Xfce and Fluxbox editions are still available for users who prefer the traditional init system. According to developers, this will improve compatibility and simplify future maintenance.
I mean to be perfectly fair, building hard dependencies on a particular init system does mean it gets way harder for anyone to use other ones, and that does suck
It’s understandable that people would be frustrated by that. I’ve never had any issues with sysd but when I was using void I really liked runit, and with gnome increasing dependencies on systemd I’m worried I won’t be able to use void anymore as a gnome user :(
Only reason I’m not using void currently is cause I’m not quite technically knowledgeable enough yet to set up and maintain a minimal distro.
The Unix principal is a thing people care about for a reason, it’s a pretty core part of how this ecosystem was built up with so much user choice, and while there are some silly complaints about systemd, I do feel like I’ve seen some very reasonable ones. Particularly just that its a huge, very complicated implementation
It’s absolutely not. It tends to be bundled that way, but systemd does one thing. It does that one thing very well. There are many components that tie into it.
If you believe that defies the UNIX philosophy, then you must also believe that the kernel includes every aspect of a graphical desktop environment, just because the latter depends on the former.
Thats fair, I’m not the most knowledgeable on this subject.
I do think its understandable to be frustrated with decreasing user choice around init systems though. To me it feels frustrating how often the conversation around systemd seems to break down into:
And
I don’t think peoples frustration or unhappiness with the way its impacting the linux ecosystem is entirely unreasonable. I do think the zealotry and lack of nuance with which people voice their frustrations is often tiring an unhelpful though. That being said, if I understand correctly other init systems are still available for MX, so In don’t think its really that big of a deal in this case? Not sure. Original commenter doesn’t seem to think that helps the situation, but like I said, I’m not super knowledgable on this subject 🤷🏻♂️