Systemd vs SysV vs Upstart — Linux Service Management Throwdown The world of Linux is in a perpetual flame-war, the latest longstanding controversy is the topic of system service management. We needed a modern system service manager and systemd set a bar that nothing else could meet. Now with systemd being the default, many people are up in arms about it claiming that systemd impedes on open source software and freedom of choice. Is there something more sinister going on with systemd, or is this flame-war just smoke and mirrors? W hat is a system service? It�s a pretty broad, but easily answered question. System services, often called daemons in the Linux and UNIX communities, are simply programs that run in the background that either provide functionality to other programs, like audio or networking capabilities, or they might monitor security events and provide alerts. Either way, as the name suggests, they provide services to the other programs running on the system. So, h...