Adrian Vovk, the creator of the Atomarly updated Carbonos distribution and installer for Gnome OS, and a developer of Systemd-Homed and Systemd-Sysupdate, has announced changes in GNOME that will further solidify the project’s dependence on Systemd. In the upcoming GNOME 49 and 50 releases, some entry screen sessions will be replaced by Systemd’s full-time capabilities. This change will necessitate the creation of new layers for GNOME supply in distributions and operating systems that do not utilize Systemd. The removal of old code in favor of Systemd capabilities is expected to streamline the process, eliminate unnecessary elements, and enhance functionality.
Since 2015, GNOME has integrated the Systemd-Logind sessions manager, replacing Consolekit. In non-Systemd-supporting distributions, Elogind or patches providing CONSOLEKIT support are typically used. However, alternative methods of operation without Systemd are often overlooked and not tested during GNOME development, leaving their performance in the hands of third-party enthusiasts.
Future GNOME releases will see the incorporation of the USRDB infrastructure provided by Systemd, replacing the AccountsService. This implementation will also play a role in the GDM display. GNOME and Systemd do not inherently support launching multiple graphic sessions for the same user, but GDM can display multiple input screens for remote desktop access and Multiseat systems. The existing temporary functionality in GDM, implemented 15 years ago, is incompatible with modern DBUS-Broker. Hence, a new approach utilizing Systemd-Userdb will be adopted to dynamically select accounts and launch unique user entrance screens.
Furthermore, the decision has been made to remove the service manager implementation from GNOME, which was previously used in GNOME-SESSION as a fallback processor for launching services in a non-Systemd environment. The service manager, virtually unchanged for 17 years, was retained solely for GDM purposes. With the transition of GDM to Systemd for launching entrance screens, there is no longer a need to support GNOME’s own basic session manager.