[arch-general] My end-user $0.02 on /etc/rc.conf splitting.

[Kevin Chadwick]

> If a service is not provided:
> - with SysVinit you have to write the whole script usually relying on
>   whatever library the distribution provides (which tend to be
>   error-prone);
> - with systemd, you just write a configuration file.
>

Well arch has some includes to make it prettier.

On OpenBSD you have in rc.conf.local

sshd=YES
or
sshd="-f /etc/sshdconfishere"

or in rc.local

sshd && echo "sshd started successfully"

This also demonstrates how easy shell can be to users and is a very good
encouragement to get users hacking or more importantly in complete
control.

And now package provided ones in rc.d which I have never actually needed
to use on servers or desktops. In fact I love that my systems aren't
sending packets I haven't told them to, except my Android and TVs and
Cisco router which I sold after fixing that and would have been glad I
did if I had ever put it online as exploits were found in the source of
those packets.

> For the second, whether you use systemd or SysVinit, configuring a
> service is typically done by editing the configuration file dedicated to
> this service.  In systemd, the file is declared like this
> 
>   EnvironmentFile=/etc/conf.d/nfs
> 
> which is by itself much easier to hack (rather than reading in a shell
> script to find where and how such a file is used).
> 

Because that is so much clearer than a -f flag rightly in control of the
daemons developer and in plain logical sight in the daemons man page
or config file.

> >                              then systemd creates some symlinks of
> > files into another directory whose name is also totally cryptic, at
> > least way to long. This is a total mess, if this is really true, and
> > it's absolutely a step towards a second Windoze.  
> 
> This is systemd internals. It's not expected from the user to play with
> symlinks.

I found via Google that I had to to setup my ttys with autologin and
logs etc..

I restate

One of the founding principles of UNIX is that small tools that do
a single job well allow complete flexibility whereas large tools do
what the devs foresee very well but will likely hinder users or the
unforeseen uses (hacking).

-- 
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 Why not do something good every day and install BOINC.
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