I would argue that using
   	pkgadd foo

and where is this ?  i'm yet to see something like this work entirely
well.  with enough patches, the solaris one is OK, except for that
huge /var/sadm/contents/install (or something) file that, if corrupted,
causes the entire system to fail.  (not to meantion the tools they
have for updating [but these are impliemtatino specific]).

   is simplier than
   	tar zxvf package.tar.Z
   	vi /etc/rc.local

it probably is.  do you want that ?  do you want to know know what
some random package has added to the system ?  i hate that i can
never find something under solaris without either previously knowing
where it is, or, grepping the install file.  i'm also fairly careful
about what i run at boot time (you do know what's happening in your
/etc/rc don't you?  :-) and things that add `random' extra things to
the rc sequence don't appeal.
   
   and day.  If the user needs to edit the startup file, it is NO HARDER
   than editing /etc/rc.local, and if they muck it up, they loose one
   package, not the whole system.

i'm not saying that /etc/rc{.local} is better than init.d (i really
don't care -- but i don't want change from one OK system to a different
(just) OK system).  i'd rather someone rethough this problem entirely
and came up with a workable solution -- based on what people want today.

i would but my plate is full enough as it is.

.mrg.