running without portmapper, inetd

[Neale Banks <neale@lowendale.com.au>]

Does anyone have any experience with hacking Debian's scripts to get a
system happily running networking without portmapper, or even without
inetd?  Any issues to be wary of in this area?

The motivations:

* portmapper: I can't see what need I have for it - therefore it just
becomes a security liability

* inetd: with all esential services (e.g. postfix, ssh) running as
daemons, what need is ther for this too (I'll admit to being not entirely
convinced on thi one yet)?

Thanks,
Neale.