Proposed guideline for init script files

[Christopher Blizzard]

On Wed, 2007-02-28 at 14:38 +0100, Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> > +1.  In general if you have to edit an init startup file, it's a bug.
> 
> Exactly ... and what can users do about it? Edit them.
> 
> With them not being marked %config users can only hope that RH/upstream
> fixes it before the next update blows away their edits :(

How is that different than any other part of the OS that uses a shell
script?  Are the init scripts so buggy that we need to be able to mark
them with %config where we don't do that with other parts of the OS?

There's another problem with using %config for init scripts.  The way
that programs start up changes over time.  They are closely tied to the
program they have to start.  If the init script isn't updated with the
binary then after an upgrade a program might not start in the intended
fashion.  It breaks the upgrade path.

I would rather see the init scripts fixed than marking them as %config.

> 
> > Configuration should be in /etc/sysconfig/foo.
> But real bugs and missing features init scripts suffer from can't.
> 
> As I've said many times before, I consider not marking init scripts 
> %config a regression, Fedora will regret.

I'm don't believe that.  It's certainly not a regression by any stretch.
It sounds like you're run into bugs with the init scripts, or their
configuration wasn't rich enough and editing them directly has been the
only way you've been able to manage.  I would love to see you work with
the various owners and get fixes in place so we don't have to break
upgrade paths.

A nice side effect of that work would be that everyone has more options
for their init scripts too - everyone benefits.

--Chris