Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 14:05:40 -0700 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Daniel Lang <dl@leo.org>, Christopher Nehren <apeiron@comcast.net> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Addition to reboot(8): reboot / halt reasons Message-ID: <200309021405.40906.wes@softweyr.com> In-Reply-To: <20030902134043.GB17646@atrbg11.informatik.tu-muenchen.de> References: <1062469541.642.6.camel@prophecy.velum> <1062507323.2163.6.camel@prophecy.velum> <20030902134043.GB17646@atrbg11.informatik.tu-muenchen.de>
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On Tuesday 02 September 2003 06:40, Daniel Lang wrote: > Hi, > > Christopher Nehren wrote on Tue, Sep 02, 2003 at 08:55:23AM -0400: > > On Tue, 2003-09-02 at 00:36, Sean Kelly wrote: > > > Err.. Wouldn't it just be easier to use the `shutdown` command? > > > I suggest you check `man 8 shutdown` out. > > > > I'll concede and admit that I should have RTFM'd. But in the same > > vein, if shutdown(8) provides the functionality of halt(8) and > > reboot(8), why do they exist as separate programs? I'm probably > > missing something here, but wouldn't it be easier to just combine > > shutdown and reboot / halt, as reboot and halt already are? > > Yes, you are missing something. > > shutdown(8) is a sort-of frontend to reboot/halt. It contains > additional functionality and calls /sbin/halt or /sbin/reboot. > So the combination already exists. Further halt(8) and > reboot(8) are the same program, as you can easily verify using > ls -i. > > The shutdown(8) frontend adds warning-messages and grace-time > features to reboot/halt. The true answer is "hysterical raisins." Or was that "historical reasons?" Something like that. reboot and halt are BSD commands, shutdown SYSV-ish. Shutdown has all those nice "professional" options to warn users, schedule a shutdown in a few minutes, etc. Reboot and halt expect you to already know how to use at(1) and wall(1) to effect the same results, and to write a script if you really want to do that over and over again. -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters wes@softweyr.com
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