systemd is a monolithic init, consist of several components packed into one single init which could be controlled via systemctl and more.

pros:

it got it’s own set of tools

it’s all in one solution

it’s making things somewhat easy

cons:

it’s all in one solution, that may includes things that you don’t actually need

if one of the component has a vulnerability hole, the rest are affected

given the above info that i just wrote, if you ask me whenever it’s good or not, i would say neither. it will be me that gives you a question, “do you prefer AIO or one task per program?”

the answer for that question will be the answer of your question. but remember, AiO also means some cost.

like an AIO PC, It’s simple. Because everything is packed in one.

But then it became a big trouble once the screen is broken & the replacement is no easy.

The same applies to systemd too. Take the xz exploit as a example. One component of a monolithic program had the vulnerability, The entire system is affected

In summary:

Monoliths make recovery harder.

Minimalism makes management harder.

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Discussion

How does a hole in one systemd unit effect all the rest of the units? Do effects also propogate like that with non-systemd components?