Starting Daemons - Wiki page?

[John Dennis]

On Sun, 2005-04-17 at 01:26 -0400, Chris Ricker wrote:
> On Fri, 15 Apr 2005, Michael Peters wrote:
> 
> > A feedback comment I received is that it isn't a good idea to start the
> > service from the %post scriplet, as it can cause problems with
> > installers.
> > 
> > What was suggested is that I look at what the openssh-server script
> > does. It does not start the service, it only adds it to the chkconfig
> > system so it is configured to start at next system boot.
> 
> Actually, I'd say doing that is a bad idea as well. Use chkconfig to add 
> it, but have it set not to autostart in any run level. The less default-on 
> services, the better....
> 
> Standard practice is something like

Yes, this is the right approach. Bill Nottingham wrote up an internal
wiki page on how to handle services in spec files. Maybe we can get
permission to copy the contents over to the fedora wiki.

The general rule is never start a service in a spec file unless it was
already running. Do make chkconfig aware of the service so a user can
turn the service on easily if desired.

Why not start a service? Because the mere act of installing an rpm,
something many people do blindly, should not change the behavior of a
the system. The choice to start and run a service is an explicit act, a
conscious decision of the sys admin, not an implicit side effect of
installation.
-- 
John Dennis <jdennis at redhat.com>