On Sun, Apr 22, 2007 at 07:02:19PM -0400, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:03:50 -0400
> Douglas Allan Tutty <dtutty@porchlight.ca> wrote:
 > 
> > What isn't clear is what order things happen in the rc system.  For
> > example, if I'm (or advising someone on) tracking down a problem
> > related to a service in Debian, I can start in single user mode and
> > go down the rcS.d links one at a time with the param 'start'.
> > Similar if 'something' is doing 'something', I can suggest they go
> > through the rc6.d links one at a time until the 'something' stops.  I
> > wouldn't yet know how to do that with the rc system.
> > 
> 
> rc.d files have REQUIRES and PROVIDE lines; these form a partial
> ordering.  A command called rcorder turns those into a linear order.
> See /etc/rc -- it's invoked by init, and starts everything else.
> 

Before you tell me, yes I have read the rc-related man pages.

Right, but the rcorder process seems to me more complex than sysVinit.
As you say, the REQUIRES and PROVIDE gives a partial ordering but
there's nowhere that I can just look to see in what order things happen
the way I can just e.g. ls rc2.d

Please be clear, I'm not critisizing the rc system.  I know its just
different.  I'm trying to understand two things: how it works and why it
is considered better by the BSD folks.

Thanks,

Doug.