The Shepherd

Manage system and user services.

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Console’s review

· Reviewed by David Mytton

What we like

Systemd alternative (although it has been around since well before systemd!). Can run as PID 1 as an init system or as part of user service management. Easy CLI for status, start, stop, logs, etc. Includes socket activation and timers. Command to visualize dependencies. Race free log rotation. Written in a memory-safe language without an event loop.

Tradeoffs

Configuration is in Guile Scheme, which is difficult to get started with even if it does give you the power of a programming language.

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