In a recent development, the Debian maintainer team has made the decision to fully migrate to systemd unit services by the end of February 2026. This decision comes after initially planning to remove the systemd-sysv-generator compatibility layer in Debian 13 (Trixie), which was later postponed to Debian 14.
The rationale behind the transition is primarily based on the increased level of security provided by systemd running services, as well as the more reliable control over the startup and service cycle that systemd offers. This move aligns with the systemd project’s announcement to remove support for System V service scripts in the upcoming systemd 260 release.
As part of this transition, the systemd project will discontinue the systemd-sysv-install, systemd-rc-local-generator, and systemd-sysv-generator components. These changes aim to streamline the systemd system and further enhance the overall performance and security of Debian operating systems.