Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is an error screen displayed as a result of a fatal system error.
With the recent update that Systemd has released, in which various improvements and new features have been implemented, a new feature has caught the attention of many, Well, since it has been taken from Windows, "systemd-bsod" is the new systemd feature that will display the Windows "blue screen of death" in case of a boot error.
“Systemd-bsod” will provide meaningful error messages and a QR code for users to quickly get more information about the detected error.
Similar to Windows BSOD, new Systemd error screen features a QR code that users can scan to get more information about the problem. Additionally, it displays recorded error messages in full screen, allowing users to get more information about potential problems. The feature was added as part of a community project called Outreachy, a group that offers internships for people working on open source tools.
As such, The news is a bit surprising, since BSOD screen is not exactly a popular Windows feature, plus it Linux already has its own version of this, the famous error message known as "kernel panic" (something that all Linux users do not want to see). Even so, many mention that the addition of QR codes is an excellent plus which makes it easier for Linux users to solve important errors in the operating system.
This feature arrives just in time for the first half of 2024 Linux distributions, so Linux users will likely see this blue screen of death sooner, provided they encounter a bug. And this BSOD feature is expected to be widely adopted during 2024. Among users of the affected Linux distributions, reactions are quite mixed.
As for comments from the community, It is worth mentioning that opinion is divided, since many They say that this function is really nothing special and above all that it is "useless":
“It's such a useless feature. I have several Linux systems for my daily work. They work for months, sometimes years. The only time I see a kernel panic is when the hardware is faulty or I've done something wrong (misconfiguration). A few years ago I had a dual boot system with bad RAM and on Windows it showed blue screens regularly, while on Linux it was fine. It took me a long time to figure out what the real problem was, because Linux is so solid,” notes one reviewer.
On the other side of the coin, users who welcome The new function coincides with the comment that this utility is of great help for those who do not have experience in Linux and may have problems during system configuration and with QR codes they will be able to find the solution to their problem "without dying trying ».
It is worth medicating that new version of Systemd 255 It also has dozens of other features and fixes.s that critics say are more useful and important than Linux's 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.
systemd-bsod feature is still experimental and a GitHub changelog Note that it is still subject to change., but systemd is a core part of most Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and Red Hat, so a large portion of the Linux community could end up adopting the new error messages, although on the other hand Systemd side could also abandon the BSOD approach.
Finally, if you are interested in learning more about it, you can consult the changes that can be made in systemd 255 following link.