I’m pretty sure I didn’t mess with systemd, though that would probably be the right way to handle it.

I was able to update a runtime config so if any storage wasn’t available it just halted the service. Then I created a short script I’d invoke manually which decrypted the luks drives and brought the dependent services up. I also added monitoring to alert me when the drives weren’t available for whatever reason.

I use separate disks for data storage and my OS. That way a headless system can boot and all the services like SSH can become available, and I can decrypt the data drives remotely.

When there’s an unexpected reboot I can still get into my system and decrypt remotely which is nice. I can also move the data storage disks to another system without too much hassle.

I did have to make sure some services were fault tolerant if an encrypted volume was unavailable when the OS booted. An example of this might be torrenting software, I needed to make sure the temporary storage was on an encrypted volume. The software had a sane fault mode when the final storage location was unavailable, but freaked out for some reason when the temp storage was missing.

Once set up the whole thing is pretty easy to manage.

Oh wow, thanks for putting so much thought into your replies! Aside from the couple times you’ve resorted to insults I’ve really enjoyed our back and forth conversation. It’s been a mostly good faith exchange.

I know some Internet person isn’t going to change your closely held beliefs in a random thread, so I’m not going to try to do that. I also admit that many of my beliefs are inconsistent with most of what is to be found in places like this, so I don’t take it personally when I’m met with vehement disagreement.

Nationalised industries do not need to profit

What may have gone unnoticed is that I used the word “quality”. In my experience no quality good or service has ever been provided by a large entity (government, corporation, etc…) without profit motive. National parks in the US are close, but mostly because governmental benign neglect is as close to the natural state as we get, so doing very little is doing very little harm to a system that without human participation would be in equilibrium.

Industries that do not have profit motive operate on altruism or largesse (sometimes both). Altruism cannot run high quality national scale entities, there just aren’t enough folks who reject profit while still doing their best work. Largesse can run small and large operations, but at national government scale they become so wasteful that delivering quality becomes impossible. This is where my comment about nationalized housing stock being equivalent to the projects came from.

The mythical large government who cares about their people and delivers high quality services at scale has not, nor ever will, exist.

Are you… really gonna pretend you’ve never heard of landlords

No. But I also refuse to pretend that all landlords are evil by definition. I think PE funds and foreign nationals probably have motives which do not align with those of their renters, or the overall improvement of the quality of life in the US, so large scale ownership of domestic housing stock by entities like those poses issues, which I’ve already said we should address. But I have no problem with a small shop owning a handful of units, and seeking to make a profit.

You’re a fucking landlord, aren’t you?

Not unless you count me owning the home I live in as being my own landlord.

it could only happen under a government that genuinely wants to and can work for the people.

I think this situation is possible, but not at national scale.

When did I say there’s “no way up”?

When you implied individuals cannot succeed and instead must appeal to a higher power (national scale government) which has zero evidence that it has ever existed.

You are the one saying it’s impossible, not me. You are the one saying there’s no hope for change.

I’m saying that Internet echo chamber groupthink pushing for larger government is what will not work. There’s hope for change, but people have to be accountable to themselves first.

I agree that we should prioritize quality of life for everyone, and we must take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. Doing those things requires large scale solutions, no doubt about it. It’s just doubtful that nationalizing the entire housing stock will achieve those ends.

Quality housing can’t be free. If there’s a cost, then someone is profiting. Whether that’s a corrupt government or whoever the landlord boogyman is you’re targeting, it doesn’t matter.

I’m not parroting any “talking points” for corporate giants, you need to get out more. Popular culture and echo chambers like this one might have you beaten down and convinced there’s no way up, but that’s what they want you to believe. Hopeless drones are easier to control than thinking humans. If you take control of your life at least you can be responsible for the outcome.

Personally even if I don’t succeed, I find the prospect of self determinism preferable to waiting for a benevolent government to miracle my way to a better life. Large government does not exist to serve the regular person, it will grind you beneath its feet as assuredly as any corporate entity.

You posted:

Actual nationalisation would be handled by a government that gives a shit about it. So far we have seen this happen in the early Soviet union and in China.

Those are examples of strong central governments. “Nationalise” means taking control on a national scale, necessarily requiring a central government.

Why are they choosing where people live?

If the government has a monopoly on the housing stock, then individuals cannot choose what to build or how to permanently modify it since they cannot own their domicile. I was talking less about the geography of where people would live under a nationalized scheme, and more about what the effect on individual choice non-ownership would have.

only a paranoid mind assumes nationalisation would lead to either.

This might be true, but my experience with government run housing bears it out.

you are defending landlords. Why? They don’t benefit you.

I will not attempt to defend large corporations and hedge funds owning housing stock. I’m an individual homeowner, so I’m looking out for those who, through some mix of hard work and/or luck, have chosen to own their homes.

I benefit from choosing how I live, where I live, what my home is like, and from accumulating equity. I want to preserve that opportunity for other hard working free people.

As I stated in my first comment, we can certainly improve how we manage housing stock and make it available. Foreign corporations and shadowy hedge funds driving up pricing, and governments manipulating values through tampering with interest rates are places I think we should start looking.

Nationalizing the whole of our housing stock? Nah, I’ll pass.

This entire thread is in response to you posting

Nationalise housing

Maybe I misunderstood what you meant, but I’m pretty sure that means you want a strong central government to take control of the entire housing stock, thus controlling where everyone calls home?

I’m not sure what argument you’re trying to make, but I’m pretty happy with my fully “private” housing situation. There’s no way in hell I’d want anyone, government or otherwise, controlling where I sleep.

So I guess we agree?

No fucker wants that, and you’re disingenuous for suggesting they do, or that nationalisation of housing means that

I’m not saying anyone wants to turn all housing into the projects. I’m saying it’s inevitable given how national and local governments have managed housing in my experience.

You think nationalisation of housing happens without a government competent enough to do it?

Maybe? IMO all lifelong government bureaucrats are corrupt and/or incompetent, and the result of putting them in charge of housing everyone would be horrific.

You might as well complain about buses because they don’t work without wheels.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re attempting to get at with this statement. I will say as a lifelong user of public transportation in my metropolitan area the buses and trains post-COVID have been nightmarish.

I love reading comments like these.

Yes, let’s turn an entire country’s housing stock into the projects.

There’s got to be a better way to provide housing than whatever we’re doing now, but putting an inept government, run by corrupt or otherwise incompetent career bureaucrats, in charge of the roof over my head would be a hilarious joke if people weren’t being completely earnest about it.