> Is it a daft question to ask why it works for them and not you ?
This is a very good question. My take on it is as follows.
There are several issues here, and the majority are related to startup configuration. Speaking of Ubuntu 16.04, the problem is that Ubuntu first switched from SysV startup to Upstart, and then (quite recently) to systemd. Switch to Upstart was difficult and there were many problems similar to this one, but before they were all ironed out, another switch to systemd occurred. The result is a total mess. As an example, systemd service unit is currently missing from autofs package, and so while for sssd the switch was from Upstart to systemd, for autofs it was actually Upstart -> SysV. And this is not the only issue.
Ubuntu 14.04, on the other hand, was released before the Upstart -> systemd switch. Here the problem is that Upstart's event-driven model is fundamentally flawed, and unable to express startup dependencies in a general case (as opposed to installation-specific setup). This is the reason why Upstart-related problems were not entirely fixed before the switch to systemd: because they could not be fixed within Upstart framework.
I have never used OpenSUSE, but I believe that it did not switch its init system to Upstart, but rather directly from SysV to systemd. And it did so much earlier than Ubuntu. Because of that it had a headstart and much less mess to clean up, having to deal with only one switch. No wonder then that its startup works better.
> Is it a daft question to ask why it works for them and not you ?
This is a very good question. My take on it is as follows.
There are several issues here, and the majority are related to startup configuration. Speaking of Ubuntu 16.04, the problem is that Ubuntu first switched from SysV startup to Upstart, and then (quite recently) to systemd. Switch to Upstart was difficult and there were many problems similar to this one, but before they were all ironed out, another switch to systemd occurred. The result is a total mess. As an example, systemd service unit is currently missing from autofs package, and so while for sssd the switch was from Upstart to systemd, for autofs it was actually Upstart -> SysV. And this is not the only issue.
Ubuntu 14.04, on the other hand, was released before the Upstart -> systemd switch. Here the problem is that Upstart's event-driven model is fundamentally flawed, and unable to express startup dependencies in a general case (as opposed to installation- specific setup). This is the reason why Upstart-related problems were not entirely fixed before the switch to systemd: because they could not be fixed within Upstart framework.
I have never used OpenSUSE, but I believe that it did not switch its init system to Upstart, but rather directly from SysV to systemd. And it did so much earlier than Ubuntu. Because of that it had a headstart and much less mess to clean up, having to deal with only one switch. No wonder then that its startup works better.