Hi, while working on rcctl(8), i noticed that the rc.conf(8) manual is of... err, how can i express it politely... somewhat doubtful quality. Here is a stab at it.
As a first step, i moved all the examples from the DESCRIPTION to the EXAMPLES esction. After that, the DESCRIPTION section was basically empty, so i had clean earth to till. Do not attempt to read the diff. Just apply it and read the result. OK? Ingo Index: rc.conf.8 =================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/src/share/man/man8/rc.conf.8,v retrieving revision 1.22 diff -u -r1.22 rc.conf.8 --- rc.conf.8 13 Jul 2014 10:05:49 -0000 1.22 +++ rc.conf.8 19 Aug 2014 20:30:41 -0000 @@ -59,10 +59,162 @@ with comments designated by a hash mark .Pq Sq # . .Pp -Some variables are used to turn features on or off. -For example, whether the system runs the +There are four classes of variables: +.Bl -enum -compact +.It +.Sx Base system daemon configuration variables +.It +.Sx Package daemon configuration variables +.It +.Sx Base system service configuration variables +.It +.Sx Auxiliary configuration variables +.El +.Ss Base system daemon configuration variables +These variables are used to enable and disable daemon programs +that are installed by default, and to set their command line options. +.Pp +All of these variables follow the format +.Dq Ar daemon Ns _flags +where +.Ar daemon +is the name of one of the +.Xr rc.d 8 +daemon control scripts. +The list of base system daemons, including the information whether +they are enabled by default and what typical command line options +are, can be displayed with this command: +.Pp +.Dl grep _flags /etc/rc.conf +.Pp +If one of these variables is set to +.Cm NO , +the respective +.Ar daemon +is disabled. +If set to the empty string, the +.Ar daemon +is run with the default command line arguments defined in its +.Xr rc.d 8 +.Ar daemon +script, or without command line arguments if no such default exists. +If set to any other value, including a string containing +only a single blank character, the +.Ar daemon +is run with those command line arguments. +.Ss Package daemon configuration variables +These variables are used to enable and disable daemon programs installed from +.Xr packages 7 , +and to set their command line options. +.Pp +The special +.Cm pkg_scripts +variable lists +.Xr rc.d 8 +.Ar daemon +control scripts to be started in the specified order. +For each +.Ar daemon +listed, its default command line options can optionally be overridden +using the variable +.Ar daemon Ns _flags +as described for +.Sx Base system daemon configuration variables . +.Ss Base system service configuration variables +These variables control features available by default +that are not implemented as daemons. +They can be set to either +.Cm YES +or +.Cm NO . +When set to +.Cm YES , +they have the following effects: +.Bl -tag -width check_quotas +.It Cm accounting +.Xr rc 8 +calls: +.Xr accton 8 +.Pa /var/account/acct +.It Cm check_quotas +.Xr rc 8 +calls: +.Xr quotacheck 8 +.Fl a ; +.Xr quotaon 8 +.Fl a +.It Cm ipsec +.Xr rc 8 +calls: +.Xr ipsecctl 8 +.Fl f Pf $ Brq Ar ipsec_rules +.It Cm multicast_host , multicast_router +See +.Xr netstart 8 . +.It Cm pf +.Xr rc 8 +calls: +.Xr pfctl 8 +.Fl ef +.Pf $ Brq Ar pf_rules +.It Cm spamd_black +The script +.Pa /etc/rc.d/spamd +uses +.Fl b +in front of any other configured command line arguments when running +.Xr spamd 8 +and +.Xr spamd-setup 8 . +.El +.Ss Auxiliary configuration variables +The boot scripts use the following variables in the following ways. +Most of them determine the locations of specific configuration files. +.Bl -tag -width ipsec_rules +.It Cm amd_master +The +.Xr amd 8 +master map file. +The script +.Pa /etc/rc.d/amd +appends its content to the command line when starting the auto mounter daemon. +.It Cm pf_rules +The +.Xr pf 4 +packet filter rule file. +If the +.Cm pf +service is enabled, +.Xr rc 8 +calls: +.Xr pfctl 8 +.Fl ef +.Pf $ Brq Ar pf_rules +.It Cm ipsec_rules +The +.Xr ipsec 4 +configuration file. +If the +.Cm ipsec +service is enabled, +.Xr rc 8 +calls: +.Xr ipsecctl 8 +.Fl f +.Pf $ Brq Ar ipsec_rules +.It Cm shlib_dirs +Extra shared library search path entries. +.Xr rc 8 +calls: +.Xr ldconfig 8 +.Pa /usr/X11R6/lib +.Pa /usr/local/lib +.Pf $ Brq Ar shlib_dirs +.El +.Sh EXAMPLES +Do not start the .Xr dhcpd 8 -daemon is determined by the following line: +daemon when booting the system: .Bd -literal -offset indent dhcpd_flags=NO .Ed @@ -74,42 +226,31 @@ dhcpd_flags= .Ed .Pp -If instead some options are specified, -then the dhcpd daemon will be started with those options. -For example: +To start it with some options: .Bd -literal -offset indent dhcpd_flags=-A abandoned .Ed .Pp -Other variables specify a simple YES or NO, -or simply determine the location of a file. -For example, the location of the ruleset for -.Xr pf 4 -is given thus: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -pf_rules=/etc/pf.conf # Packet filter rules file -.Ed -.Pp -Finally there is the -.Va pkg_scripts -variable, responsible for starting and stopping -.Xr rc.d 8 -scripts installed by packages in the specified order. -For example: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -pkg_scripts=dbus_daemon cupsd -.Ed -.Pp -This will run +Run .Pa /etc/rc.d/dbus_daemon then .Pa /etc/rc.d/cupsd with the -.Va start +.Cm start argument at boot time, and in reverse order with the -.Va stop -argument at shutdown. +.Cm stop +argument at shutdown: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +pkg_scripts=dbus_daemon cupsd +.Ed +.Pp +The default location of the ruleset for +.Xr pf 4 +is: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +pf_rules=/etc/pf.conf # Packet filter rules file +.Ed .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr init 8 , .Xr intro 8 ,
