Re: Problems with init
Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> I've never been anywhere where I've seen System V runlevels actually
> used for changing the state of a running machine in practice between
> one multi-user state and another. When we were re-designing NetBSD's
> init/rc system, we solicited information on such use. Although legends
> popped up of machines that changed the state of a database for an hour
> once a week for various purposes, so far as we could tell cron jobs
> that simply told the database to change state and such would have done
> just as well. We therefore went with a "traditional" system without
> System V style explicit runlevels.
The only case I've seen something used other than "single", "halt",
"reboot", and "multiuser" is when a machine could operate either as a
plain server, or with an X system console on it; runlevel 4 was used to
designate "multiuser, graphical console".
One could certainly argue that this is a distinction better made in the
X startup area, but I have seen such a thing with my own eyes; it's not
legend. Whether it was a good thing or not, well, that's an entirely
different question. As noted, it could still be handled in other ways.
My only concern for supporting runlevels is legacy/conversion support.
If this really did come up on debian-devel, and folks *wanted* a solution,
then I would like to ask if there is a qualified developer here who would
be willing to bring it up there (I'm not an official developer, at the
moment, or I would do it).
--
***************************************************************************
Joel Baker System Administrator - lightbearer.com
lucifer@lightbearer.com http://www.lightbearer.com/~lucifer
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