GNOME Increasing Systemd Reliance: Challenges for Non-systemd Environments
2025-06-11
The GNOME desktop environment is increasing its reliance on systemd, posing challenges for non-systemd environments like BSD systems. GNOME 49 will remove gnome-session's built-in service manager and depend on systemd's userdb for user management. This requires non-systemd distributions to implement systemd alternatives, such as elogind and eudev, and provide necessary support for the userdb API, otherwise GNOME will not function correctly. The article details the systemd components that need replacing and corresponding mitigation strategies, recommending using systemd or reverting to GNOME 48.
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