shell power in rc.conf

[Mel Flynn]

On Tuesday 18 August 2009 07:00:08 Dan Nelson wrote:
> In the last episode (Aug 18), Artis Caune said:
> > Is there any reason of not using shell variables in rc.conf?
> > I want to tune rc.conf for easy editing and administration. Take for
> > example jail_list or cloned_interfaces with 10+ entries:
>
> Remember that every startup script sources rc.conf, sometimes very early or
> late in the startup/shutdown sequence, so just make sure you don't echo
> anything to stdout/stderr or try to run commands that might be on
> filesystems that aren't mounted yet, and you should be fine.

In this particular example, you're fine. In general, you should also take care 
that /etc/defaults/rc.conf is read before /etc/rc.conf and may set values for 
variables you have not specified. Defaults can also change between releases, 
so one should inspect /etc/defaults/rc.conf during mergemaster stage with a 
microscope.

-- 
Mel