Re: [gentoo-user] syslog-ng: how to read the log files

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 11:08 AM, lee <lee@yagibdah.de> wrote:
> Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org> writes:
>>
>> Who is forcing anybody to use anything?
>
> Look around and you will find that systemd has taken over Linux, with a
> few exceptions as in distributions like Gentoo.  The taking over will
> probably continue until you cannot use Linux anymore without using
> systemd.  If that's not forcing, then what is it?

They're not forcing you to use Linux at all, let alone Linux with systemd.

Fedora v13 never contained systemd as far as I'm aware.  Today it
still works EXACTLY as it did then.  Nobody is preventing you from
using that.  The same is true for any other distro that has adopted
systemd.

Your complaint isn't that people are forcing you to use systemd.  Your
complaint is that somebody isn't building a linux distro to your
personal specifications free of charge.  With FOSS we all contribute
code that anybody can use for as long as they wish.  The fact that you
don't want to use the code that somebody wrote a few years ago and
would rather they write updated software (perhaps with security
vulnerabilities removed, features added, and so on) doesn't obligate
others to create it for you.

And that is my issue with this line of argument.  It assumes that you
have a right to demand that others create free software for you, and
that they do it to your specifications.

I get your frustration.  There have been FOSS projects that were
discontinued that I've thought were really valuable.  However, while I
mourn their indefinite slumber, I'm not going to complain that the
devs chose to move on.  I never paid them for what they gave me in the
first place, and I have no right to demand more.  The same is true of
whoever maintains your init scripts.  If you have a support contract
that requires somebody to backport fixes to whatever you're using for
10 years, and they're breaking that contract, then I can only agree
that you're in the right.  Short of that, you've gotten what you've
paid for.  I understand your frustration, but I don't think the use of
terms like "force" is justified.

-- 
Rich