OpenRC on FreeBSD

[Warner Losh]

On Wed, Dec 19, 2018 at 7:57 AM Martin Wilke <miwi at freebsd.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The missing bit was actually the flag for switching the rc’s which have
> been resolved.
>

No. The missing bit is an articulated plan. While that minor sub-issue may
be resolved, I see no plan for integration into the tree. Unless the plan
is 'commit the review in one big push' which really isn't a viable plan.
There are problems with the review (it's too large to be successful, and
has issues that need to be discussed in a less massively huge environment).
This isn't what the working group's conclusion would be the next steps. The
FCP I provided feedback on died. It was a good start on a plan, but was
just dropped with my feedback completely ignored.

Warner


> - Martin
>
> On 19 Dec 2018, at 10:51 PM, Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 19, 2018 at 7:39 AM Martin Wilke <miwi at freebsd.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I'd like to reopen the discussion for OpenRC on FreeBSD. Basically this
>> is the second attempt to get it into FreeBSD.
>>
>> I've opened a review here with a working patch for CURRENT,
>> https://reviews.freebsd.org/D18578
>>
>>
>> To recap the discussion
>>     * First attempt of RFC in March of 2018:
>> https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers/2018-March/052358.html
>>     * Working group at BSDCan:
>> https://wiki.freebsd.org/DevSummit/201806/OpenRC
>>
>> Here some key points:
>>
>> OpenRC provides additional features for service management without
>> requiring kernel changes or replacing pid 1, unlike launchd and other
>> solutions.  All rc.d scripts have been converted with a few changes,
>> typically changing the shebang and making sure the start function is named
>> start(). Most service scripts are simplified, usually needing only name,
>> command, and, if required, depends statements.
>>
>> History:
>> OpenRC started out as an init system by Roy Marples, developed for the
>> Gentoo Alt (FreeBSD) kernel branch. It was more widely adopted into Gentoo
>> as baselayout v2, and was then split off as a separate BSD-licensed
>> project. It is under active development, portable, and remains BSD licensed
>> today.
>>
>> OpenRC and RC:
>> Both can coexist and be chosen with a setting in /boot/loader.conf.
>>
>> OpenRC Features:
>>
>> Service supervision and service monitoring: any service can be
>> supervised. Supervised services that crash are automatically restarted. The
>> rc-status command shows how many times a service has restarted.
>>
>> Device hotplug support and event-driven service management: the hotplug
>> feature allows devd to take actions when devices are connected. For
>> example, a USB wifi adapter can create additional network services when
>> attached. The net-online service can, for example, detect when a network
>> connection is restored, and restart ntp.
>>
>> Network profiles: using stacked runlevels, different profiles can be
>> established for different networking settings. For instance, different
>> profiles can be used for wired or wireless networking, or for differing
>> wireless networks, as well as dependency caching and parallel startup speed
>> up booting.
>>
>> Interactive mode:
>> The boot process can be run interactively for more effective debugging.
>>
>> OpenRC uses the term “runlevels” to refer to the context in which a
>> script is running. There are only three at present:
>> sysinit (the OpenRC system is starting), boot (start base services when
>> the computer is booting), and default (normal execution).
>>
>> OpenRC, by default, provides a “colorized” text boot, using ANSI color
>> sequences. This can be disabled.
>>
>> Ports:
>> As of July 2017, iXsystems has created OpenRC versions of port service
>> scripts for the entire ports tree. These scripts coexist with the rc.d
>> versions.
>>
>> License:
>> OpenRC is a BSD licensed RC init system written in C. From a user
>> perspective, it is very similar to the FreeBSD rc.d init system, making it
>> easy to use and learn.
>>
>> Tested: OpenRC has been used as the init system for TrueOS since October
>> 2016.
>>
>> Ken Moore has an OpenRC vs RC.d comparison which can be found here:
>> http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/openrc/OpenRC_rc.d.pdf <
>> http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/openrc/OpenRC_rc.d.pdf>
>> I look forward to discuss the features and capabilities of OpenRC.
>>
>
> This is cool technology.
>
> However, what was missing last time was a written plan that could be
> critiqued for fit with the project's needs. The result of the working group
> was that this was to be produced, and we'd iterate through it to ease the
> landing of openrc in the tree. I think there's wide agreement this is cool,
> and that we'd like tot have both it and rc.d in the tree for a transition
> period. Absent a plan, though, it's not really possible to say 'go do it'
> or 'that's insane'.
>
> So maybe start there?
>
> Warner
>
>
>