Subject: Re: Changing root's shell to /bin/sh
To: Jay Maynard <jmaynard@texas.net>
From: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 03/17/1999 09:38:58
>For example, I'm thinking of actually implementing a control-file-based
>multiple rc script system, similar in concept to the SysV rc.d but without
>the file name conventions that folks here find bletcherous. 

Without a more concrete proposal, its not possible to gauge the likely
response.  This is somethign on which nearly everyone has an opinion.

Some of the  issues that've come up before are:
	* how are the  dependencies between `modules' encoded?
	* Is the dependency acutally used at boot time read from a file,
	  is it directory-entry lexographical order,  or is it computed
	  (say from #require and #provide header lines) by some tool?

          iianm, a number  of developers have expressed very strong
	  reservations about the last idea. (the principal one being,
	  what if the tool dies halfway through and leaves  things
	  in an inconsistent state? What if the tool  isn't re-run
	  when it should be? Or if it runs on every reboot, what're
	  the  time impacts on older systems (think: vax-11/750)

If you want to discuss this, do go ahead, but dont dive into an
implementation without working through the issues that're likelly to
cause egitimate, um, customer resistance.