Replacing rc.local and using Systemd
When was the last time you changed? Okay, that question was pretty ambiguous. Let’s try again. As a systems administrator, you need to decide what knowledge is worth keeping and what force or energy you need to replace old knowledge? For you as a senior administrator, with years of support knowledge for systems that are still in service, having to decide what knowledge stays and what goes it can be extremely difficult.
If you’ve been using Raspberry Pi’s single board computers since they were first introduced in 2012, then change should come as no surprise. The single-board computer hardware has gone through several revisions as it offers more and more features. If you’ve been using the Raspbian operating system (OS), new releases have brought in their changes. In 2022, the OS changed its name to Raspberry Pi OS. Under the new name, it also released a beta 64-bit version.
Operating system upgrades resolve known problems, improve existing offerings or add new features or enhancements. Release notes are an extremely important piece of documentation. When upgrades make changes that render old knowledge obsolete, it’s important for users to gain the new knowledge before it’s needed.
Let’s look at two changes that affect your ability to administer your Raspberry Pi. The aim is not to argue the merits of the changes, but to raise awareness so your knowledge can be updated, hopefully minimising the software and the second is changes to the Raspberry Pi OS that removes support for/etc/rc.local.
