Status of /etc/rc.conf.d/servicename feature in rc.subr

[Mark Blackman]

On 20 Jun 2011, at 09:20, Stefan Midjich wrote:

> I noticed in /etc/rc.subr that the function load_rc_config sources
> /etc/rc.conf.d/${_name}. This is however undocumented, NetBSD mentions
> this feature in rc.conf(5) but FreeBSD does not.
> 
> I have two questions, is this a new undocumented feature, or an old
> one being phased out? I'm hoping it's a new because I really want this
> feature.
> 
> Second question, how do I use it? I've tried to track the ${_name}
> variable but I can't find anyone calling the parent function
> load_rc_config_var() where the name variable is set from its first
> argument.

I've added a file called 'jail' there  and /etc/rc.d/jail will then
pick up configuration data from /etc/rc.conf.d/jail.

I think it's quite a useful feature and would support it's
continued existence. However I wonder who else might be interested
in a better referencing method more like a perl hash or YAML files
for the configuration data.

There's a clear nesting behaviour there built from shell variable
names that I find a little bit overextended.

- Mark