Installing Debian bookworm without systemd

Instructions

1. Get the official installation image from the usual locations. I got the netinst CD image via BitTorrent.

2. Boot from the image and go through the installation in the normal way.

   1. You may want to select an alternative desktop environment (and unselect GNOME). These steps have been tested with MATE.

   2. Stop when you are asked to remove the installation media and reboot.

3. Press Alt + Right arrow to switch to the text VC. Hit return to activate the console and run the following commands (answering yes as appropriate):

chroot /target bash
apt-get install sysvinit-core elogind ntp dbus-x11
apt-get autoremove
exit

4. Observe the output from the apt-get install. If your disk arrangements are unusual, that may generate some error messages from update-initramfs.

5. Go back to the installer VC with Alt + Left arrow. If there were no error messages above, you may tell it to reboot.

6. If there were error messages (for example, I found that if there was disk encryption, alarming messages were printed), tell the installer to go “Back”. Then ask it to “Install GRUB bootloader” (again). After that has completed, you may reboot.

7. Enjoy your Debian system without systemd.

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