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I don't see why you couldn't do that in systemd (or any other init), it's not hard to make a small unit that simply runs a shell script.

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I think the implication is that "systemd as designed" cannot do that, and shell scripts are a hacked-in solution. I disagree with this implication because the fact that systemd left that door open is enough for me, but I get where they're coming from.

But it is a mess. You'll need 2 files for that unit (itself and the shellscript) plus changes to all necessary dependencies to put it in the right place. A sysv-init script is just edited in the right place and you are done.

> A sysv-init script is just edited in the right place and you are done.

If you never intended to update the package, that owns the sysv-init script, that is.

If you do, you will find out at update time, that you have to manually play with 3-way diff and hope, that the init script didn't change too much. You are never done.

With systemd, you have an override, you don't change the original unit. It will update cleanly.

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