How to make configuration changes without a reboot?

[Eric Kjeldergaard]

> I learned that in order to make changes to the screen saver,
> I had to reboot the computer. Those changes, made by
> sysinstall, appear in /etc/rc.conf.
> 
> Is there a way to make such changes take effect without
> rebooting?  (Version 5.3 RELEASE, i386)

Of course there are.  Reboots are only really necessary for switching
kernels.  Unfortunately, this often takes a bit more knowledge.  In
the case of screensavers, a combination of kldload (to load the
desired screensaver) and vidcontrol (to set timeouts and such).  man
kldload and man vidcontrol should get you going on this.

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