1. This can, and should, all be done without systemd, and not with idiosyncratic shell scripts and guesses.
2. Some of the systemd logging is binary, so good luck with that if there's a problem.
3. Have you tried non-systemd init systems other than sysvinit?
4. Yes, it is convenient when everything below your development is cenrtalized by a single entity. It can easily provide a consistently useful underpinning. But there's a price - overly strong coupling of the init system, the kernel and part of the user-space, centralized control of, well, almost all of how things work on the system, and
stagnation of the ecosystem due to there being only one game in town.
2. Some of the systemd logging is binary, so good luck with that if there's a problem.
3. Have you tried non-systemd init systems other than sysvinit?
4. Yes, it is convenient when everything below your development is cenrtalized by a single entity. It can easily provide a consistently useful underpinning. But there's a price - overly strong coupling of the init system, the kernel and part of the user-space, centralized control of, well, almost all of how things work on the system, and stagnation of the ecosystem due to there being only one game in town.