MX Linux 25.1 brings back switchable init systems

Dislike systemd but occasionally need it for something? MX can help

MX Linux 25.1 restores the ability to switch init systems – the killer feature of MX Linux of old.

The update follows a very short beta period – 25.1 beta 1 appeared a week earlier. Then again, this is no ordinary bug-fix point release. As the beta announcement said:

We normally do not produce beta images for "point release" updates, but in this case we thought it was prudent because, as of 25.1, dual-init is now once again possible, and we are including both systemd and sysvinit on the same ISO. This both drastically cuts the number of builds we do and also brings back a feature that was uniquely MX.

In other words, 25.1 restores one of the most distinctive and useful features of MX Linux: the ability to choose your init system as the computer boots. The MX Linux 25 release back in November last year made you choose before installation, and the KDE Plasma edition was only available with systemd.

MX Linux 25.1 with the default Xfce, with start menu at bottom left – and sysvinit

This unfortunate change was looking likely for months – we warned it was likely back in August 2025. This had a couple of drawbacks. On one hand, it meant an unavoidable proliferation of MX Linux 25 editions. As we mentioned when looking at the beta in September, it meant no less than seven different editions. On the other hand, it made Lennart Poettering's controversial systemd init system harder to avoid. For instance, it's part of both the MX Linux-based AV Linux distros that we looked at in December.

What's a little unexpected is that rather than an updated or fixed version of the previous systemd-shim tool, this ability has returned due to a new init-switching system called init-diversity. This comes from an alternate spin of one of MX's progenitor distros, antiX Linux – we looked at version 23 of this when its Debian 12-based release came out. The newer Debian 13-based release is still in its second beta.

The most recent version of this upstream spin, antiX-23.2 – init-diversity – 2025 remaster edition, offers a choice of six different init systems: sysvinit, s6-rc, s6-66, OpenRC, dinit and runit. For now, MX Linux 25.1 offers just two: the classic sysvinit, or the protean shoggoth that is systemd.

The attractively themed GRUB menu offers a choice of init systems on the Advanced menu

Upgrading MX Linux is a little tricky as it is – we upgraded our spare MX Linux 23 partition to 25, and while the OS works perfectly, the handy MX Tools no longer do. With something as critical as an init system, the developers are playing it safe: updating MX Linux 25 to 25.1 will not install the init-diversity tools. If you want to be able to choose your init, the project has a page describing how to enable it – and it includes uninstallation instructions too.

Bootnote

Our thanks to reader Mike R who tipped us off and sent us a link to the MX Linux Forum thread where this change was discussed earlier this month. ®