Subject: rc.d
To: None <tech-userlevel@netbsd.org>
From: Frank van der Linden <frank@wins.uva.nl>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 03/15/2000 00:17:44
Somehow this subject changes mailinglists into AOL bulletin boards.
Say "me too!" if you agree.

Ok, a few things:

	* Monolithic /etc/rc is gone, it won't be back. Deal.
	* As I've said before, please don't start about the "BSD way"
	  of doing things. You are free to run your own setup,
	  use another OS, or go find yourself a VAX to run 4.2BSD on.
	* It's all very easy to start screaming your head off at poor
	  Luke, but imagine yourself in his position: re-implementing
	  part of a system that is bound to spawn religious wars. If
	  he did anything wrong, it's that he actually DID try to
	  please everybody.

Why was this checked in? Because it was the only way to move forward.
If Luke had kept on trying to incorporate totally opposite (and often
religious) suggestions, we would have ended up with one totally stressed
developer, and no new rc system. You can't please everyone, you
have to move forward.

I'd hoped that, once people started using it, more constructive and
practical suggestions would come up, but unfortunately there is
already a tendency towards loudness rather than content.

What are the open issues? The main one is that there should be an
easy, well-documented way to drop in scripts for 3rd-party packages.
Documentation is lacking, yes, but Luke said he will write it.
Dropping in scripts currently does mean editing rc.conf, which
isn't the easiest way. So one can either split up the config
files or write an automated tool that deals with rc.conf. Either
one would work for me. Then there's pkg and local scripts, but
that just seems a matter of picking an option.

And sure, 1.5 won't be shipped until these issues are worked out.
Well DUH!

- Frank