Help! Stupid Newbie Question

[Glenn Dawson]

At 02:05 PM 9/24/2005, Gerard Seibert wrote:
>On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 13:30:43 -0700, Glenn Dawson <glenn at antimatter.net>
>Subject: Re: Help! Stupid Newbie Question
>Wrote these words of wisdom:
>
> >
> > If the port you installed was relatively recent, you just need
> > mysql_enable="YES" in your rc.conf.
> >
> > If it's an older port, look for a sample startup script in
> > /usr/local/etc/rc.d.  You just need to rename it so that it ends in
> > .sh and it will start at boot time.
> >
> > -Glenn
>
>
>***** REPLY SEPARATOR *****
>On 9/24/2005 4:57:41 PM, Gerard Seibert Replied:
>
>When I first started using FreeBSD, I had the same problems. It would be
>nice if the author of the man pages included the start up information as
>well as the location of any config files as the first entry in the page.
>I have even installed programs where the startup scripts were commented
>out, for example: cups.sh-sample, and I went looking for why the program
>was not starting before it dawned on me what the problem was.

I think the primary reason for not having a port 
automatically start after it's installed would be 
security.  There are a number of things that 
might present a security risk if they are enabled 
with their default configurations, or no 
configuration at all.  I don't believe I've ever 
seen a port install itself so that it starts at boot time.

Section 4.6 in the handbook has this:

Ports that should start at boot (such as Internet 
servers) will usually install a sample script in 
/usr/local/etc/rc.d. You should review this 
script for correctness and edit or rename it if 
needed. See 
<http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/configtuning-starting-services.html>Starting 
Services for more information.

>  I realize
>that someone with years of experience would not have had that sort of
>problem, but for a new user, it is all to common. We are always getting
>requests for how do I start foo, or what have you on this list.

There are a great many people that post to the 
list with questions that are readily available in 
the handbook, or some other part of the web 
site.  I don't think that's likely to change any time soon.

-Glenn


>That is just my 2¢ worth of unasked for opinion.
>
>
>--
>Gerard Seibert
>gerard at seibercom.net
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