Policy Weekly Issue #4/13: Starting daemons in the postinst scripts

[Christian Schwarz <schwarz@monet.m.isar.de>]

Topic 13: Starting daemons in the postinst scripts

STATE: DISCUSSION

The following policy has been suggested:

     If a package installs a `daemon' that is usually started via an
     /etc/init.d/ script, the package should query the system
     administrator after the installation (in the postinst script) if
     he/she wants to start the daemon now.

(Does someone know a better wording for this?)

Question: Should this policy apply to all packages that install daemons or
only to packages which install a daemon as well as user/admin commands?

Wouldn't it be good if every script in /etc/init.d would start with a
shell
variable that's set to 0 or 1, depending on whether the daemon should be
started at boot up time or not? For example:

    #!/bin/sh

    run_foo=0

    test $run_foo == 0 && exit 0

    ...

The script (the variable) can be adapted by the postinst script. If the
sysadmin wants the start the daemon, it should be started in the postinst
script, too.

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