new rc system

[Doug Barton]

On Tue, 9 Sep 2003, Peter Jeremy wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 08, 2003 at 12:59:11PM +0200, Philipp Grau wrote:
> >Next problem is that /etc/rc.d/ntpd is evaluated before /etc/rc.d/devfs (see
> >the output of "rcorder /etc/rc.d*) So the start of ntpd fails because it is
> >requires the devfs link. Ntpd likes to open /dev/refclock-0.
> >
> >What should I do to circumvent this problem? By simply adding a
> >"# REQUIRE: devfs" to the /etc/rc.d/ntpd file? Or this there some other
> >mechanism?

ntpd[ate] is a very difficult thing to order, because a lot of things
need/want accurate time before they start, and yet by definition, ntp is
a network protocol so it has a lot of other dependencies before it can
even start. A lot of the things that ntp depends on (like network) want
logging before they start, but syslog wants accurate time before IT
starts...  and we spiral back in time infinitely.

I've currently been giving a reasonable amount of thought to a "two
pass" concept to rc that would allow you to get a minimal system with
logging up, fire up the network, do things like dns and ntp, then
restart any systems that have to have accurate time to live within a
running system. This is extremely non-trivial though. :)

> This is a known shortcoming in the new rc system.  Luke Mewburn
> commented on it in a talk recently but does not yet have a
> satisfactory solution.

Can you describe in more detail what you mean by "this is a known
shortcoming?"

Doug

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