As an alternative to sysvinit, you can configure your project to use systemd as an initialization manager. systemd not only performs system initialization, it also manages system processes, and packs many more features than sysvinit.

The systemd initialization manager is replacing sysvinit and other initialization managers in most Linux distributions. However, the adoption of systemd in major Linux distributions has not lacked controversy. Many see systemd as an overly complex system with a complicated architecture that goes against the Unix philosophy of simple, short, clear, and extensible modular software, easily maintained and repurposed.

systemd is also big in size compared with sysvinit, although it can be scaled down and customized for embedded projects. Some of its features are tightly integrated with kernel features and updating it may force a kernel update, which is not always feasible for embedded devices.

It does however feature parallel service startup, which provides faster boot times, provides dependencies between services, has a better security framework, and provides software watchdogs for processes, among other features.

This recipe will introduce the systemd initialization manager.