Re: how did it get to this?
I personally like openrc as an init system, but systemd is a symptom of the tooling problem.
It's for me a retrograde step but again, it's linux, one can, as you and I do, just remove systemd.
There are a lot of people in the industry now who don't seem able to cope with shell scripts nor are minded to research the arguments for or against shell as part of a unix style of system design.
In conclusion, we are outnumbered, but it will eventually collapse under its own weight and a worthy successor shall rise, perhaps called SystemV, might have to shorten that name a bit.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
