new rc system

[James Quick]

On Thursday, September 11, 2003, at 04:36  AM, Peter Jeremy wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 10, 2003 at 05:00:49PM -0700, Doug Barton wrote:
> [re-ordering rc.d scripts]
>>> 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?"
>
> The files in /etc/rc.d/ include dependency information in the form of
> 'BEFORE' and 'REQUIRE' entries.  The default entries are appropriate
> for "normal" configurations but may require changes in some cases (eg
> Philipp's situation).
>
> The new rc system currently has no mechanism for over-riding these
> defaults other then by editing the individual rc files.  These changes
> need to be re-merged if the rc files are updated.
>
> Luke is currently looking at options to allow administrators to alter
> the dependency order without requiring the rc files to be edited.  Two
> possibilities are:
> 1) An option to rcorder that allows dependency information to be
>    included on the command line.
> 2) Add a hack to rcorder so that given a file /etc/rc.d/foo, it will
>    check for dependency information in /etc/rc.cnf/foo.

My initial inclination was to write a couple of pages of ideas, for 
improving
the rc subsystem.  On second thought, I think it better not to include 
them
until I know the appropriate recipients and/or venue. I'm not currently 
a
contributor, am new to the freebsd-* lists, and do not yet know the 
people
and their responsibilities.

I am responding, however, because I have a number of ideas on how to
improve the rc subsystem, and am willing to contribute both time and 
code
if a new design grabs me.

Except for contributing minor patches to gnutar, amanda, procmail, I'm
new to opensource development.  I do, however, have 20 years experience
with Unix development and administration, and 4 years experience with
a mix of FreeBSD 4.x and 5.x, so I should not take long to ramp up.

So, whoever is responsible for this stuff, if you have room for a new
person on your team, please let me know how I can get involved.