From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG  Thu Oct  7 13:42:43 2010
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Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2010 07:42:42 -0600 (MDT)
From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To: "Douglas K. Rand" <rand@meridian-enviro.com>
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	(wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Thu, 07 Oct 2010 07:42:42 -0600 (MDT)
Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: sysrc -- a sysctl(8)-like utility for managing /etc/rc.conf et.
 al.
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On Thu, 7 Oct 2010, Douglas K. Rand wrote:

> I think that this script might also fill a void with using Puppet as a
> configuration tool. Currently Puppet, as its default behaviour, uses
> files in /etc/rc.conf.d to set variables. I've found this approach
> really lacking because you cannot do things like:
>
>  nfs_server_enable="YES"
>
> via a /etc/rc.conf.d file because multiple things (like lockd, mountd,
> nfsd, nfsserver, and statd) all need nfs_server_enable set, as one
> example. This script would provide an easy method for puppet to "edit"
> lines in /etc/rc.conf.

Consider also the docs that tell the user to
   echo 'something_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

which can produce duplicate and possibly differing entries.  Or 
non-working entries if there was no ending \n present, or even a broken 
rc.conf that breaks startup.