>> FreeBSD has been in the early stages of working on a launchd port for 10 years now.
> There were several half-serious individual efforts, but I don't think the community / foundation were pursuing it seriously until quite recently. Kip Macy has been working hard to get it in as an init replacement recently.
This is because iXsystems (Jordan Hubbard) hired Kip to implement it for FreeNAS (and, presumably PC-BSD), not because the FreeBSD community thinks it needs a new init system.
Jordan also has plans to bring other large pieces from Apple to FreeBSD.
> This is because iXsystems (Jordan Hubbard) hired Kip to implement it for FreeNAS (and, presumably PC-BSD),
I believe EMC Isilon has also sponsored the work.
> not because the FreeBSD community thinks it needs a new init system.
Right. Kip is working on it because someone hired him too. But practically, this is how large-scale efforts get done. Some FreeBSD-using corporation hires / builds out a larger project in a way that is acceptable to the community and it is incorporated into base.
I do think the community has come to more or less that consensus at this point, though. The camp that is fine with /etc/rc hasn't started raising loud complaints about the idea incorporating a backwards-compatible launchd to replace rc.
> There were several half-serious individual efforts, but I don't think the community / foundation were pursuing it seriously until quite recently. Kip Macy has been working hard to get it in as an init replacement recently.
This is because iXsystems (Jordan Hubbard) hired Kip to implement it for FreeNAS (and, presumably PC-BSD), not because the FreeBSD community thinks it needs a new init system.
Jordan also has plans to bring other large pieces from Apple to FreeBSD.