Sean Whitton <[email protected]> writes: > diff --git a/policy/ch-opersys.rst b/policy/ch-opersys.rst > index 7d9e20a..193e3d1 100644 > --- a/policy/ch-opersys.rst > +++ b/policy/ch-opersys.rst > @@ -537,6 +537,29 @@ and in your ``postrm`` > update-rc.d package remove > fi
> +The default behaviour is to enable autostarting your package's daemon. > +If the daemon should not be autostarted unless the local administrator > +has explicitly requested this, instead add to your ``postinst`` script > + > +:: > + > + update-rc.d package defaults-disabled Tiny formatting nit: I usually prefer to put the double-colon at the end of the previous paragraph when the literal text is introduced explicitly by that package, instead of on a line by itself. > +and add a dependency on ``init-system-helpers (>= 1.5.0)``, which > +introduced the ``defaults-disabled`` option. > + > +An older practice, which should not be used, was to include a line > +like ``DISABLED=yes`` in the package's ``/etc/default`` file. The > +package's init script would not start the service until the local > +system administrator changed this to ``DISABLED=no``, or similar. The > +problem with this approach was that it hides from the init system > +whether or not the daemon should actually be started, which leads to > +inconsistent and confusing behavior: ``service <package> start`` may > +return success but not start the service; services with a dependency > +on this service will be started even though the service isn't running; > +and init system status commands may incorrectly claim that the service > +was started. > + > Note that if your package changes runlevels or priority, you may have to > remove and recreate the links, since otherwise the old links may > persist. Refer to the documentation of ``update-rc.d``. Looks good to me. Seconded. That said, I don't think this completely addresses all of the merged bugs, since it leaves undocumented how the local administrator is supposed to disable a service. I realize Policy isn't about user-facing documentation, but I think it might still be worth a mention in here somewhere that the local administrator can disable a service with update-rc.d <service> disable. The advantage of mentioning this in Policy is that package maintainers may see it and just document that approach if they get questions from users about disabling their service. -- Russ Allbery ([email protected]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
