Booting MX-19 with runit

[Head_on_a_Stick]

runit is a cross-platform Unix init scheme with service supervision, a replacement for sysvinit, and other init schemes.

http://smarden.org/runit/

Unlike sysvinit, runit offers true process supervision and unlike systemd it has a smaller codebase (and hence potentially fewer bugs). For comparison: runit-init is 9KiB, sysvinit is 52KiB and systemd is 1.5MiB.

To change from sysvinit to runit use these commands and reboot:

Code: Select all

sudo apt update && sudo apt install runit{,-init}

Although runit is well configured for Debian systems, MX Linux reserves runlevel 5 for the graphical login screen so we also need to change that with

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sudo sysv-rc-conf

Navigate to the LightDM line and enable the script for runlevels 2, 3 & 4 (as well as 5) then quit to save the change.

See this page for a guide to migrating from sysvinit service files to runit scripts (step 5, purely optional): http://smarden.org/runit/replaceinit.html#sysv

In case of problems, boot with systemd (using the Advanced Options boot sub-menu) and re-install the sysvinit-core package to return to the stock configuration.

Preliminary ISO images are available from this post: viewtopic.php?p=545422#p545422

[anticapitalista]

Thanks.

Tried this in VBox with antiX-19 (net install) - seems to be working well. Testing some more.

[anticapitalista]

Just to add that boot time to a fluxbox 'desktop' with slim login manager (auto-login) takes <6 secs! Usually it is 10 secs in these tests with sysvinit.

[oops]

Thanks,

I will try too, into a small partition.

[Huckleberry Finn]

I was trying on 18.3 without success and was wondering if MX Team would consider Runit.. Will try on 19 :)

Edit: Wooooooooohooooooooooow

Writing on MX 19 Runit "Baremetal" - 32bit :D



Yes, started manually with startx,

First Feedback: Conky shows exactly same numbers of Ram and Cpu as it was with sysvinit 2.96

Will now do the automation for startx.

(Meanwhile, maybe you edit the command and add: sudo apt update ; at the beginning :) )

Can give more feedback if asked or observed anything interesting.

[anticapitalista]

I just made antiX-19.1-full-runit iso and will play with this to see how well (or not) persistence/snapshot/frugal works

[Huckleberry Finn]

The only negative observation: There was a screen glitching with Thunar only (1.8.9) on 4.9.200 kernel (and previously 4.9.193) and that became increased so much. ( Graphics: Intel Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics, driver i915)

Other observations:

pm-suspend works perfectly as it was with sysvinit
the default suspend xfce4..logout also works but screen doesn't get locked (also screen-lock doesn't work, as it seems there's something with light-dm or lightlocker as mentioned)

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Just to add that boot time to a fluxbox 'desktop' with slim login manager (auto-login) takes <6 secs! Usually it is 10 secs in these tests with sysvinit.

Nice!

For MX-19 I have a delay before the console login shows, this seems to be caused by Plymouth. Removing it fixes the problem.

Writing on MX 19 Runit "Baremetal" - 32bit :D

Fantastic news, thanks for testing

Conky shows exactly same numbers of Ram and Cpu as it was with sysvinit 2.96

Yeah the difference is only a few hundred KiB, try ps_mem for a detailed break down of RAM usage.

maybe you edit the command and add: sudo apt update ; at the beginning :)

Good point, thanks!

screen doesn't get locked

Yes, that is a problem — light-locker is tightly integrated with LightDM so an alternative is needed.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Thank you so much :) I've been wondering Runit since a long time ago :)

Soon there would be a solution about light-dm. Maybe something simple, or an alternative as you say..

Will now reboot to try the automated startx.

Edit: That one is ok, too. As mentioned, you just type username & password manually on tty1 .

(And I see nothing related to light-dm on init text .. )
______________________________________________________

Default commands xfce4-... -suspend -reboot -halt

and also :

sudo init 0
sudo init 6

All work normal (as on sysvinit v 2.96)
_______________________________________________________

By the way, Ram usage on the same conky dropped by 5MİB :

The min. point was 210 MİB when new booted & idling on sysvinit, and now I saw 204 and it settled at 205 MİB

(Which was 340 when MX 19 was first installed)

[Richard]

Ran
sudo apt update && sudo apt install runit{,-init}
on EeePC 32 bit netbook.

But it still rebooted into SysVinit.
Rereading the thread and continuing trials.