14 DAY TRIAL // systemd developer Lennart Poettering announced the release and immediate availability for download of a new update to the widely-used init system for Linux-based operating systems, versioned 234.
systemd 234 has been in development for the past four and a half months, which is a lot of time, but it doesn't look it's a major release or anything, bringing only a few new features and several under-the-hood improvements, along with a bunch of bug fixes and security enhancements.
However, there's one thing that stands out from everything else, and that's support for the Meson build system. That's right, systemd joins the Meson bandwagon like numerous other Open Source software applications out there, and it lets OS integrators build it with Meson, though Automake is still supported, for now.
"It is our plan to remove Automake in one of our next releases, so that Meson becomes our exclusive build system," reveals Lennart Poettering in the mailing list announcement. "Hence, please start using the Meson build system in your downstream packaging. There's plenty of documentation on how to use Meson."
systemd-networkd learned a few new tricks
Among other noteworthy changes that landed in the systemd 234 update, we can mention that systemd-networkd learned a few new tricks, including a FlowLabel= setting in the [VXLAN] section of .network files, a Priority= setting in [Bridge], GVRP=, MVRP=, LooseBinding=, and ReorderHeader= settings in [VLAN], as well as GatewayOnlink=, IPv6Preference=, and Protocol= settings in [Route].
Additionally, systemd-networkd's DHCP support received support for domain search list (DHCP option 119) and got support for serving IPv6 address ranges through the Router Advertisement protocol. Moreover, unit files received support for a few new options and settings, and there are a few other small improvements for other components so make sure you study the full changelog attached below.