Date:        Tue, 28 Mar 2000 23:22:22 -0500 (EST)
    From:        der Mouse  <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
    Message-ID:  <200003290422.XAA26185@Twig.Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>

  | > I want the "global conf file" to simply go away,
  | 
  | It can never truly go away; the information about what needs to be done
  | before what under what circumstances has to be kept *somewhere*.

No, you misunderstood (or I wasn't clear enough, which is perhaps more
likely).  I don't want the global config information to go away, I want
the global config *file* to go away.

  | The most it can do is spread out all over the place so it looks as though
  | it's gone away because it's not collected together in a single place.

The single file will go away, and the information will settle wherever
it falls lowest ...   It isn't as if we have one single global config
file for everything now anyway (if that were true, then there might be
some kind of argument for keeping it) - we already have separate config
files for all kinds of things, that are managed separately, and then this
one other file that contains a whole bunch of miscellaneous config info
for all kinds of other odds and ends.   Since I doubt that we're about to
start merging the ssh apache amanda Xserver  ... configs all into one
place (into one file - or even really into files in one dedicated directory)
I suggest that moving everything into distributed config files is more
consistent.

  | The current rc.d paradigm begins this, by spreading some of that
  | information out over a bunch of PROVIDES: and REQUIRES: lines scattered
  | throughout rc.d/*.

Yes - the point was that we're only half done, rc.conf still exists,
and that's a mistake.   Aside from anything else it means that only root
can change the options to any of the daemons, no matter what, and anyone
granted permission to change any option can change all of them.  It also
makes arranging config of any of this with anything more integrated to
an editor quite difficult.

kre