Re: Shutdown - 25 Years Later

On 2025-04-16, Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> wrote:

I can recall vividly the first time that I fired up a GNU/Linux
system.  It was from a Mandrake CD back in 1998.
>
It worked, but I was puzzled about how I should shut it
down.  A search of the paper manual that came with the
CD revealed the answer:
>
shutdown -h now
>
Well, over the years I have become a veritable GNU/Linux
master that has rolled his own distro but, to this day,
I still shut it all down with:
>
shutdown -h now
>
That's what I like.  If it works it will work forever.
There is no need for change for the sake of change.
>
But I do occasionally boot into a GNU/Linux live DVD/USB
for certain purposes and the dominance of the GUI/DE
has obliterated the need for that simple command.
>
I feel so sorry for the distro lackey.
>
I know that underneath all that GUI/DE glitz there still
remains:
>
shutdown -h now
>
Note: the "shutdown" command belongs the package "sysvinit"
and probably has been replaced within the junk Systemd that
has grabbed the balls of most, but not all (and certainly
not mine), GNU/Linux distros.
>
As I said, I feel very sorry for the helpless distro lackey.

I remember that command, but I switched to 'poweroff' and that has
become my habit.  Simply a little easier to type.

That being said, I do appreciate the fact that habits that I learned
many years ago, still stick.  Even now, running a 'modern' Linux, I can
still, if I choose to, and I do, use Linux in a very similar way to when
I did when I started.  Same shell, same commands, even the same Window
Managers.

Change for the sake of change is silly.