There has been a lot of speculation and questions concerning if the next MX release would finally follow debian and move to systemd.

And of course, we did ask for help with porting systemd-shim over to MX-19’s debian-buster base system.

When we asked that question, a lot of people assumed that we wanted the shim to avoid using systemd. But most MX user’s know that MX has shipped with both systemd and sysVinit for years. The actual reason for requesting help with porting systemd-shim wasn’t to avoid systemd, but to keep it.

Hence the request for help with systemd-shim, which allows for systemd and sysVinit to be installed simultaneously.

And we did have a response. A developer has come forward to port the systemd-shim over to buster-based debian. We are currently doing internal builds with this new systemd-shim in place and the results are promising.

Besides testing internal builds, we are also getting our own buster-compatible repos populated, updating apps, and working on theming, all while still trying to enjoy the Northern Hemisphere’s summer. So we’ve been busy.

And for those wondering, we won’t be releasing MX-19 until sometime after Xfce 4.14 goes final later this summer.

Thanks for your support!

d.o.