https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/linux-distros-are-about-to-get-a-killer-windows-feature-the-blue-screen-of-death/

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FOSS BSOD --

New systemd update will bring Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death
to Linux

Systemd is used by Debian, Arch, Fedora, Ubuntu, and many downstream
distros.

Andrew Cunningham - Dec 7, 2023 7:22 pm UTC

New systemd update will bring Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death
to Linux
Enlarge
hdaniel

reader comments

101

Windows' infamous "Blue Screen of Death" is a bit of a punchline.
People have made a hobby of spotting them out in the wild, and in
some circles, they remain a byword for the supposed flakiness and
instability of PCs. To this day, networked PCs in macOS are
represented by beige CRT monitors displaying a BSOD.

But the BSOD is supposed to be a diagnostic tool, an informational
screen that technicians can use to begin homing in on the problem
that caused the crash in the first place; that old Windows' BSOD
error codes were often so broad and vague as to be useless doesn't
make the idea a bad one. Today, version 255 of the Linux systemd
project honors that original intent by adding a systemd-bsod
component that generates a full-screen display of some error messages
when a Linux system crashes.

 

Further Reading

Next Windows 11 update makes the Blue Screen of Death blue again

The systemd-bsod component is currently listed as "experimental" and
"subject to change." But the functionality is simple: any logged
error message that reaches the LOG_EMERG level will be displayed
full-screen to allow people to take a photo or write it down.
Phoronix reports that, as with BSODs in modern Windows, the Linux
version will also generate a QR code to make it easier to look up
information on your phone.

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It's a small change to a single software project, but systemd manages
services and system settings for the vast majority of the big Linux
distributions, including but not limited to Debian, Fedora, Arch,
Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and many other downstream
distros. The odds are good that whatever Linux version you're using
will see this version of systemd eventually, depending on how often
and how aggressively it integrates new upstream software packages and
how quickly you migrate to new releases when they come out.

Version 255 of systemd has dozens of other features and fixes, most
of them more useful and more significant than the new Blue Screen of
Death feature. This includes many additions related to TPM support,
disk encryption, and the ability to use hibernation with btrfs file
systems. But none of these improvements are quite as funny as the
thought of a hardcore Linux snob suddenly staring down a blue screen
error just as they're typing "Micro$oft" into their latest forum
post.

reader comments

101
 
Andrew Cunningham Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars
Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware
and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS.
Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast
called Overdue.
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