The self-proclaimed “Veteran Unix Admins” forking Debian in the name of init freedom have released Beta 2 of their “Devuan” Linux distribution.

Devuan came about after some users felt it had become too desktop-friendly. The change the greybeards objected to most was the decision to replace sysvinit init with systemd , a move felt to betray core Unix principles of user choice and keeping bloat to a bare minimum.

Supporters of init freedom also dispute assertions that systemd is in all ways superior to sysvinit init , arguing that Debian ignored viable alternatives like sinit , openrc , runit , s6 and shepherd . All are therefore included in Devuan.

The breakaway developers first targeted a late 2015 release and eventually released a beta in April 2016.

Now the group has mailed its followers, “announcing the release of Devuan Jessie Beta2.”

“This interim Beta2 release is another milestone as Devuan continues towards its goal of sustainability as a universal base distribution,” the message says. “Beta2 will be soon followed by a release candidate and the final Jessie release, due beginning of 2017.”

Those of you who fancy some systemd -free Debian action can get the new beta here.

Most of the heat seems to have gone out of the systemd debate: Ubuntu adopted it in March 2015 without the sky falling in. ®