# What structure will these 'makefiles' have? # I think it would be very practical to be able effectively # change them using "automatic" scripting if we want this # kind of init to be widely used by package managers.
This was a thought I had not longer after my last post. It goes without saying that they should be plain-text, with a very well-defined (and simple) format. My basic thinking was to have.. /etc/init.conf The effective replacement for /etc/inittab /etc/rc.d/*.initrc Descriptions for each package /etc/libexec/init.d/* Default location for scripts The format being: [runlevel:]<identifier>[.<action>] <keyword> [<identifier>[.<action>]] e.g.: -- /etc/init.conf: runlevel:graphical requires X runlevel:graphical requires xfs -- /etc/rc.d/xfs.initrc: # Don't allow shutdown if X is running xfs.stop requires X.stop -- /etc/rc.d/X.initrc: # Ensure that we always start before gpm, if the two will be started at # the same runlevel X.start before gpm.start # We need xfs in order to start up X requires xfs # We don't allow 'reload' - it's meaningless for this X.reload disable # Override the default /libexec/init.d/* commands # We don't need to specify a command for 'restart', as # init will automagically do a 'stop' and then 'start' if not # overriden. X.start command /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm --nodaemon X.stop command killproc xdm So..a package manager's install script would do something along the lines of: - Install /etc/rc.d/PACKAGE.initrc - Install /libexec/init.d/PACKAGE, if apt. - Add dependencies to /etc/init.conf, if apt. - Run 'init --reload' to ensure information is updated (or something similar) This is what I was thinking of, anyway. I need to sit down and think about exactly what the available keywords would be and so on, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of discussion about how crappy my config files are (just so long as people say it *now* and not in 3 month's time when I've done a nice library interface to them, I'm happy :>) Mo. -- Mo McKinlay Chief Software Architect inter/open Labs ------------------------------------------------------------------------- GnuPG Key: pub 1024D/76A275F9 2000-07-22 Mo McKinlay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
