this is probably one of the most promising candidates for an init system aside from systemd, right? I know openrc is still having trouble with parallel startups as a result of its design which is almost a must at this point. s6 is in the works from what I hear, but not configurable via simple config files yet.
Have a look at Chimera Linux if you want to give it a try: https://chimera-linux.org/
runit, s6, and OpenRC don't have the downsides of systemd, but they also only cover a subset of its features
s6 is just a process supervisor meant work alongside an init. That said, an init was developed exclusively for s6, and it's ready according to the author's website. You could in theory setup a full Linux system with it.
The author is currently working on a user-friendly UI/frontend for the system. But that's not an essential component.
> but not configurable via simple config files yet.
I don't know if that's the goal of the project at all. Config files defeat the entire purpose of its design.
They should focus on one simple and good alternative to the startup-functionality for non-systemd infected systems though. Void has one advantage: they have many clever people, a bit like how Arch used to be before they succumbed to systemd (today's arch is different from when Judd was in charge).
Having said that, I haven't used runit and from the look of it, it's a big improvement over SystemV at the very least.