From owner-freebsd-hackers Tue Jun 15 20:18:38 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from gizmo.internode.com.au (gizmo.internode.com.au [192.83.231.115]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9DFF814C04 for ; Tue, 15 Jun 1999 20:18:34 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from newton@gizmo.internode.com.au) Received: (from newton@localhost) by gizmo.internode.com.au (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA11012; Wed, 16 Jun 1999 12:48:19 +0930 (CST) (envelope-from newton) From: Mark Newton Message-Id: <199906160318.MAA11012@gizmo.internode.com.au> Subject: Re: [Call for review] init(8): new feature To: wayne@crb-web.com Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 12:48:19 +0930 (CST) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: from "Wayne Cuddy" at Jun 15, 99 11:05:43 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG 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