Service start order question

[Mark C. Allman]

On Sat, 2008-02-09 at 01:19 -0500, Kevin J. Cummings wrote:
> Cameron Simpson wrote:
> > On 08Feb2008 11:16, Mark C. Allman <mcallman at allmanpc.com> wrote:
> > | If a wireless network connection needs to use wpa_supplicant, then
> > | wpa_supplicant obviously must be started before network.  Since
> > | wpa_supplicant depends on messagebus, that service then needs to be
> > | started before wpa_supplicant.  This isn't the order in which they
> > | start, which if I remember correctly is:
> > |     S10network
> > |     S27messagebus
> > |     S28wpa_supplicant
> > | 
> > | I've renamed the links to:
> > |     S08messagebus 
> > |     S09wpa_supplicant
> > |     S10network
> > | and everything works just fine.  However, often times when packages are
> > | updated ("yum update") the link names revert to the defaults, and I'm
> > | forced to go back and fix the names again.
> > | 
> > | Is there a reason for this order?  Do others rearrange the service start
> > | order?  Does anyone else use wpa_supplicant with the default service
> > | start order without problems (I can't see how)?
> > 
> > The /etc/rc2.d (and 3, 4 etc) service files are numbered symlinks to
> > masters in /etc/init.d/. These are maintained by the chkconfig command
> > from comments at the start of each init script. You need to hack the
> > comment lines to stop chkconfig from rearranging stuff out from under
> > you.
> > 
> > BTW, if you modify the comments then RPM updates will probably not
> > update the init script, but make a .rpmnew file beside it; you should
> > diff them to ensure the new init script differs only in the comments
> > you have changed. Otherwise, move yours sideways, move the .rpmnew file
> > in, update the comment again.
> 
> Sp, basically, he should "man chkconfig" and learn how to use it because
> that is what uses the comments inside the scripts in /etc/init.d
> 
> -- 
> Kevin J. Cummings
> kjchome at rcn.com
> cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
> cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us
> Registered Linux User #1232 (http://counter.li.org)
> 
Thanks for the information on chkconfig.  You answered questions I
didn't ask, but it's always interesting to learn how things work.

My questions were (see above):
 1  Is there a reason for this order?  
 2  Do others rearrange the service start order?  
 3  Does anyone else use wpa_supplicant with the default 
      service start order without problems?

-- Mark C. Allman, PMP
-- Allman Professional Consulting, Inc.
-- www.allmanpc.com, 617-947-4263

BusinessMsg -- the secure, managed, J2EE/AJAX Enterprise IM/IC solution