Some of you have probably seen the blog post a few months ago about how GNOME is more strongly depending on systemd. The changes mentioned there have landed into the latest stable versions of the mentioned software (GNOME 49) and do affect us. In particular, the main culprit is the removal of the non-systemd fallback code in gnome-session. This makes it currently impossible to launch gnome-shell/mutter on a non-systemd system. A fairly straightforward patch of using elogind, like what was previously done, no longer works either.
Since we don’t have the time or interest to write a new non-systemd codepath for gnome-session, this means that all support for gnome-based desktops has to be dropped. In particular, the affected packages would be gnome-session, gnome-shell, mutter, and gnome-settings-daemon. For now, the old versions are still in the repos but because there is so much intertwining between other gtk/gnome packages, there is no guarantee they actually work and will later be removed from our repos.
Standalone gnome applications will still continue to be packaged, but it is simply not feasible anymore to support gnome desktops without systemd.
You must log in or # to comment.
I read as “Arch Linux drops support for GNOME” and my heart fluttered
I did the same but was skeptical since Arch is an only systemd system so there’s no point it would affect Arch anyways
Hopefully other software doesn’t follow this path, otherwise it will be practically impossible to run a distro without systemd.
what is the argument against using systemd?
Linux people hate change and think software written in 1970 is the perfect software for modern desktops.
So no GNOME on BSD anymore?
If you want GNOME you need a corporate aligned linux-only desktop with all the IBM trimmings? IBM who has been known forever for the poor quality of their code? IBM who pays by the KLOC?
Linux itself is entirely “corporate-aligned.” It exists and is developed almost entirely by and for corporations.
I dug up this link from June, which tells us why they made such a design choice of strong depressing on systemd.
https://blogs.gnome.org/adrianvovk/2025/06/10/gnome-systemd-dependencies/
Funny thing is every open source developer strives to support as many systems and platforms as possible, by following best practices and open standards, GNOME goes backwards.
Isn’t systemd that open standard though?
Same with Wayland?
Isn’t systemd that open standard though?
No. It doesn’t support BSD, just for starters, even though most of the established desktop environments originally ran there as well as on Linux. So by definition, anything that relies on systemd can’t “support as many systems and platforms as possible”. And to my knowledge, no actual standards document defining protocols and interfaces has ever been published (although I admit, as an OpenRC user, I don’t pay much attention), meaning that the interface can change without warning. If systemd works for you, that’s fine, but don’t try to build it up into something it isn’t.
I am not knowledgeable enough to answer your question. But if it were an open standard, it would be more like Xorg than Wayland. There is only one X server implementation, just like there is only one systemd implementation.
Here Gnome is kinda like the websites which only work with Chromium based browsers. “Everybody is using Chrome anyways, right?” In a sense it’s also not really systemd’s or Chromium’s fault, that some devs decided to only support their platform.
There is only one X server implementation
That isn’t quite true. There have been several proprietary implementations for non-Linux systems—Apple’s XQuartz was still being maintained as of a couple of years ago, although I don’t know about its current status. Standards documents exist, and anyone can code to them.
The prob here?
Dang, i knew this was gonna be problematic, but i thought it might’ve been fixable with an elogind type of approach. I don’t use gnome myself, but it definitely sucks if you’re someone who likes using gnome but doesn’t want to use systemd. I’m a Void user myself, so i’m interested in seeing if the Void team ends up making the same decision as Artix.
I feel like Void devs will first wait it out. Perhaps Chimera Linux’ devs will come up with some workaround by then. A possible workaround could be to make Duncaen’s systemd fork official. Though I’m not sure if maintaining 2 init systems would be less work than to patch the systemd API specific stuff.
Sounds like those people who like GNOME but dislike systemd have a choice to make. Most GNOME end users, like me, have no idea what the function of systemd actually is or why we should be concerned, and I’ve been using GNU-Linux for over 20 years. I’m glad there are people much more computer literate than me viewing it as a problem and searching for solutions.
“Some of you have probably seen the blog post a few months ago about how GNOME is more strongly depending on systemd.”
“Standalone gnome applications will still continue to be packaged, but it is simply not feasible anymore to support gnome desktops without systemd.”
What I always say when anyone tries to defend systemd but I just get shut down and talked down to because nobody wants to admit systemd lead person is on purpose influencing with flawed and unethical objectives/workflows that undermine actual openness and community efforts. He don’t give af about the community.
This isn’t a secret plot by systemd, this is gnome making dependency choices and a distro that explicitly doesn’t support the new dependency being left in the cold. That’s just how dependencies work.
Boo systemd. Boo I say. Boo
I’m sure all 12 users of artix will be very sad lol
Not really, I’m using kde.
