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Date:      Thu, 7 May 2026 21:54:16 +0100
From:      Frank Leonhardt <freebsd-doc@fjl.co.uk>
To:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: [List] Re: Console output during boot
Message-ID:  <cf9675c6-5776-4c73-be98-06979a1976fe@fjl.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <D09394FD-5F3A-4162-9569-4A8212F064F8@sermon-archive.info>
References:  <7136899E-4CC4-414D-A4CC-CD2C11C51132@sermon-archive.info> <880e3e21-061f-4d2b-a514-13c6905bcd05@fjl.co.uk> <D09394FD-5F3A-4162-9569-4A8212F064F8@sermon-archive.info>

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[-- Attachment #1 --]
On 04/05/2026 21:21, Doug Hardie wrote:
>> As no one else has said anything, all I can think of is the rc_startmsgs variable in rc.conf. This defaults to "yes", meaning display messages like Starting cron, Starting sshd and so on. Are these what you're missing?
> No.  rc_startmsgs is set and rc_quiet is not set.

This could be your problem. rc_startmsgs must be set to "yes" somewhere. 
However, you might not have understood exactly what I was saying.

Inside a file /etc/defaults/rc.conf there should be a like this:


rc_startmsgs="YES"     # Show "Starting foo:" messages at boot


You can override this to "no" in /etc/rc.conf but if it really is not 
set to anything (which is what you said) it won't be set to the default 
"yes". In other words, if it's not set in /etc/rc.conf and for some 
reason it's missing from /etc/defaults/rc.conf then it won't be set to 
"yes" and you won't get any messages.

It could also be a broken /etc/rc.subr. Make sure this is normal.

You might also have $rc_quiet set somehow (other options like faststart 
switch it on using the service command). You can have faststart set 
globally for every service start with rc_fast="yes".

/etc/rc.conf is just a shell script, so it might be an idea to put stuff 
like "echo rc_quite=$rc_quiet rc_fast=$rc_fast in there and check what's 
happening.

You can also set a flag "rc_debug=yes" to have it run all it's scripts 
with the -x option and see exactly where it goes.

Finally, you can get a dump of the non-standard settings using "sysrc 
-a", and a list of all the settings using "sysrc -A".

If you're still having troubles, please post "sysrc -A".

Regards, Frank.


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    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 04/05/2026 21:21, Doug Hardie wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:D09394FD-5F3A-4162-9569-4A8212F064F8@sermon-archive.info">
      <pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap=""><blockquote type="cite"
      style="color: #007cff;"><pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">As no one else has said anything, all I can think of is the rc_startmsgs variable in rc.conf. This defaults to "yes", meaning display messages like Starting cron, Starting sshd and so on. Are these what you're missing?
</pre></blockquote><pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">No.  rc_startmsgs is set and rc_quiet is not set.</pre></pre>
    </blockquote>
    <p>This could be your problem. rc_startmsgs must be set to "yes"
      somewhere. However, you might not have understood exactly what I
      was saying.</p>
    <p>Inside a file /etc/defaults/rc.conf there should be a like this:</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p>rc_startmsgs="YES"     # Show "Starting foo:" messages at boot</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p>You can override this to "no" in /etc/rc.conf but if it really is
      not set to anything (which is what you said) it won't be set to
      the default "yes". In other words, if it's not set in /etc/rc.conf
      and for some reason it's missing from /etc/defaults/rc.conf then
      it won't be set to "yes" and you won't get any messages.</p>
    <p>It could also be a broken /etc/rc.subr. Make sure this is normal.</p>
    <p>You might also have $rc_quiet set somehow (other options like
      faststart switch it on using the service command). You can have
      faststart set globally for every service start with rc_fast="yes".</p>
    <p>/etc/rc.conf is just a shell script, so it might be an idea to
      put stuff like "echo rc_quite=$rc_quiet rc_fast=$rc_fast in there
      and check what's happening.</p>
    <p>You can also set a flag "rc_debug=yes" to have it run all it's
      scripts with the -x option and see exactly where it goes.</p>
    <p>Finally, you can get a dump of the non-standard settings using
      "sysrc -a", and a list of all the settings using "sysrc -A".</p>
    <p>If you're still having troubles, please post "sysrc -A".</p>
    <p>Regards, Frank.</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
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