Re: inetd(8): continue or exit on error?

[David Brownlee <abs%absd.org@localhost>]

On Mon, 29 May 2023 at 11:38, Michael van Elst <mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost> wrote:
>
> tlaronde%polynum.com@localhost writes:
>
> >If inetd is not running, if the administrator doesn't look at the logs,
>
> That's why people monitor services and logs and use manual or
> automated procedures to validate and deploy configuration changes.

I have a slight preference towards 'exit on error', but both options
have completely valid use cases.
Could add a command line flag to determine whether to exit on error.
Is there any prior art in other BSDs/Linux?
One aspect to bear in mind is that inetd has been around ~forever, and
conventions have changed over time.

> >At least, wouldn't it be worth to add a flag simply to parse and
> >validate the syntax without running the daemon?
>
> It's always a good thing to be able to validate a configuration.

This absolutely sounds like a nice idea - could then be chained in
rc.d so 'inetd reload' could check the file and abort with an error
rather than reloading (similar to the recent sshd changes)

Thanks

David