[Pkg-sysvinit-devel] Bug#546401: sysvinit/sysv-rc drops support for /etc/rc.boot

[Craig Sanders]

On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 09:50:41AM +0200, Petter Reinholdtsen wrote:
> [Craig Sanders]
> > where [...] else am i supposed to put such scripts?
> 
> To quote the content of the last version of rc.boot(5) manual page:
> 
>   The /etc/rc.boot directory is obsolete. It has been superseded by
>   the /etc/rcS.d directory. At boot time, first the /etc/rcS.d
>   directory is scanned and then, for backwards compatibility, the
>   /etc/rc.boot directory.
> 
> Put the scripts in /etc/init.d/ and symlink them from rcS.d/.

that's not an adequate substitute.

the point of /etc/rc.boot is that you can just drop scripts in there
and not have to stuff around with symlinks or file-rc or whatever.

if files are in there and they match the criteria set by run-parts
then they will be executed in sorted order.  nice, simple, no hassle.

on top of that, /etc/rc?.d is better kept for package scripts, 
with a separate directory just for locally maintained scripts.

> The feature has been obsolete for 10 years, the manual page have

no, the feature has been deprecated for use in PACKAGES for 10 years.

it's still in active use by sysadmins.

> and I believe it is about time this obsolete feature go away, to
> reduce the amount of cruft in the sysvinit package.

the fact that you personally don't use it doesn't make it obsolete, or
useless to others. many have come to rely on it as a feature over the
years...and removing the feature will break a lot of systems.

and one call to run-parts is hardly "cruft".

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>