On 23/01/2021 02:20, Yasha Karant wrote:
> I had not heard the history of SystemD in any detail.  What, if any,
> were the software engineering and design justifications for SystemD? 
> I recall some vague mentions of "designs for the future"

Have a look at the SystemD Wikipedia entry which links to the SystemD
home page.

As I understand it the initial impetus for SystemD (as with all the
other competing init systems) was the perception that SysVInit was/is
obsolete or not suitable for modern life. One of SystemD's claimed
advantages over SysV was faster booting. However, in my experience
similarly specced SysV machines seem to boot faster!

It's difficult to say anything about SystemD without it becoming
political/religious but my impression is that the bloat and mission
creep that SystemD seems in many people's views to suffer from (i.e. it
is no longer just an init system) is perhaps less about "software
engineering and design justifications" and perhaps more about mindshare
grab and ecosystem control. I claim nothing; I merely report common
views. ;-)