daemontools
Shares rank 6 of 9 init systems by recommenders
Small, simple process supervision suite by Daniel J. Bernstein that people praise for reliable service management and elegant design.
Small, simple process supervision suite by Daniel J. Bernstein that people praise for reliable service management and elegant design.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Small, simple, elegant design
“as demonstrated by the small executables included in the daemontools of Daniel J. Bernstein”
Comment from 29 Jun 2026 in “Replacing Systemd with OpenRC in Debian” “These suites grow on you once you start using them and remind you what could have been.”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “Runit Linux: Complete Guide to Unix Init Scheme with Service Supervision” “I have found the design of daemontools and its derivatives runit and nitro elegant”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “From Azure Functions to FreeBSD” Reliable service management
“even the ancient original version did most of one would need for reliable service management”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “From Azure Functions to FreeBSD” “daemontools, runit, s6 solve that problem”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Lennart Poettering, Christian Brauner founded a new company” Model for newer derivatives
“There are derivatives of daemontools that are brought up-to-date and they are much simpler and more secure than systemd”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “I Hate: Programming Wayland Applications” “I have found the design of daemontools and its derivatives runit and nitro elegant”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “From Azure Functions to FreeBSD” Named alongside runit and s6
“daemontools or maybe runit were my favorites.”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Linux from Scratch Ends SysVinit Support” “daemontools, runit, s6 solve that problem”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Lennart Poettering, Christian Brauner founded a new company”
Other init systems people recommend
The four most recommended other init systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 9 init systems, rankedWhat people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“as demonstrated by the small executables included in the daemontools of Daniel J. Bernstein”
“the way to an optimal init scripts system has been shown by Daniel J. Bernstein with his daemontools”
“so was djbdns and daemontools”
“There are derivatives of daemontools that are brought up-to-date and they are much simpler and more secure than systemd”
“installing daemontools on the OpenBSD server my office ran on because it was nicer to work with”
“daemontools or maybe runit were my favorites.”
“the happy path is very, very narrow”
“Doing this is really, really error prone and fragile.”
“You could do the same in a less invasive manner with daemontools”
“daemontools, runit, s6 solve that problem”
“even the ancient original version did most of one would need for reliable service management”
“I have found the design of daemontools and its derivatives runit and nitro elegant”
“These suites grow on you once you start using them and remind you what could have been.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.