Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 16 Jun 1999 12:48:19 +0930 (CST)
From:      Mark Newton <newton@internode.com.au>
To:        wayne@crb-web.com
Cc:        hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: [Call for review] init(8): new feature
Message-ID:  <199906160318.MAA11012@gizmo.internode.com.au>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.990615230045.9419A-100000@crb.crb-web.com> from "Wayne Cuddy" at Jun 15, 99 11:05:43 pm

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Wayne Cuddy wrote:

 > They SysV way is more elegant and less error prone for bad typist. 

... and has absolutely no way of encoding interdependencies between
services (or any concept of a "service" at all, other than as
after-the-fact hacks).  What happens to your NFS services when 
you do "/etc/init.d/inetsvc stop; /etc/init.d/inetsvc start" on
a Sun?  What *should* happen on a notebook computer when you start
it without its pccard ethernet device plugged in?  Should certain
network services not be started at all, or should they be delayed
until after PPP comes up?  Isn't that a question that can only be
answered by the individual service?  (like, DHCP wouldn't need to
start at all when PPP comes up, but your web server might need to
be restarted to listen to a new IP address).

 > Graphical tools can be used to interface with these quite easily. 

... also true for any other well-designed interface.

 > It also also easy to
 > automate installations via installation mechanisms. 

Also true for any other well-designed interface.  SysV's mechanism
is not a well-designed interface.  Sure, it has its strengths, and
it makes certain tasks easy, but it's not the only answer that has
strengths and simplicity.

 > I don't think I agree
 > that it is a bad idea because it is associated with SysV... 

Neither do I;  that issue hasn't been broached in this discussion to
date.  I think it's a bad idea because it's an intrinsically bad idea.

It seems to me that every time this issue comes up people say, "We
need something better than rc.local/rc.conf for boot-time configuration.
SysV has certain attributes we don't have; so let's use SysV!"

It's like the politician's mantra:  "SOMETHING must be done!  This
random solution counts as `something', so let's implement this 
random solution."

Let's not.  Several people have given this matter serious thought and
have come up with some excellent ideas, some of which have been
implmenented as a test platform.  Again I'd suggest that anyone 
interested in following this up consults the archives first, because
the last thing we need is to have the mailing lists rehash the same
ground *again* less than three months after the last time we rehashed
it.

[
  a note to whoever it is that's replying to this message:  you will
  no doubt delete this text in your reply, because it's stressing
  that you should CONSULT THE ARCHIVES.  have you consulted them?  if
  not, please, please, please exit your editor without saving your
  response, and consult them.  thank you for your cooperation.  normal
  service will resume shortly.
]

   - mark

----
Mark Newton                               Email:  newton@internode.com.au (W)
Network Engineer                          Email:  newton@atdot.dotat.org  (H)
Internode Systems Pty Ltd                 Desk:   +61-8-82232999
"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton"  Mobile: +61-416-202-223


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199906160318.MAA11012>