On Mon, 17 Nov 1997, Eric Haszlakiewicz wrote:

> 	well, unless I'm completely in a different world, /etc/rc checks and
> mounts / before checking for rc_configured.

Oops. It probably shouldn't do this.

> However, I think it would be fairly helpful
> if the message it printed out was more newuserfriendly.  For instance:
>    echo "/etc/rc.conf is not configured. Multiuser boot aborted."
>    echo "If you are unsure of what to do now, take a look at"
>    echo "the /config.help file.  (type \"more /config.help\")"
> This file could then give some basic instructions on how to set up the
> system.  (There's a file like that somewhere isn't there?  Perhaps not..)

Well, for a start, more(1) will probably not be available, if /usr
is on a separate filesystem.

If there is such a file, it should be included with the install
system. It's a one-time-use only thing; there's no reason it should
be cluttering up a production system.

> > The initial install program is responsible for setting rc_configured
> > to `yes' after it has configured everything else properly.
> 	yippe, but I doubt it will never fail.

If it does fail, we should fix the bug. If it's such an odd failure
that it's not fixable as a bug in the install system, chances are
that the system is so far gone that the novice user who doesn't
even know what /etc/rc.conf is and is not capable of finding out
will never be able to repair his system on his own anyway.

> Even if it does work
> it would be nice for new users of netbsd to have a easy to find
> (hence /config.help instead of /usr/share/blah/config.help)....

What on earth is wrong with `man rc.conf'?

All the stuff you're talking about makes sense for a user handbook
or something like that; it's the thought of keeping said user
handbook in / that I object to, especially given that in the
circumstances where the user needs it most, he probably won't have
easy access to it.

cjs

Curt Sampson    cjs@portal.ca	   Info at http://www.portal.ca/
Internet Portal Services, Inc.	   Through infinite myst, software reverberates
Vancouver, BC  (604) 257-9400	   In code possess'd of invisible folly.