Re: pkgsrc RC scripts

[Alan Barrett <apb%cequrux.com@localhost>]

On Sun, 04 Oct 2009, Joerg Sonnenberger wrote:
> One of the often voiced complains about installing the scripts
> automatically is that it is hard to distinguish between components
> from base and from pkgsrc.

A comment at the top of the pkgsrc-supplied script could help.

> In fact, using a separate directory for local additions makes a
> lot of sense. The main point you seemed to have missed is that
> mixing different management domains is not necessarily a good
> idea. /etc/rc.d is normally managed by postinstall. The pkgsrc RC
> scripts by pkgsrc. The local additions by yourself. A clean separation
> makes the process easier.

A clean separation makes the process easier in some ways, and more
difficult in other ways; it also raises questions about how many
separate directories to have.  My preference is to leave them all
in one directory.

> >   | ensures that no stupid "Missing variable $foo" clutters up the boot
> >   | messages.
> 
> Changing rc.subr won't help on any system already released. The trivial
> one line change to the RC scripts is self-contained.

That argument works both ways:  Changing pkgsrc RC scripts won't
help systems that have already installed old packages.  The trivial
change to rc.subr is self-contained and benefits both old and new
packages.

--apb (Alan Barrett)