PW#5-5: Standardized handling of /etc/init.d script options
[This mail is part of Debian Policy Weekly issue #5]
Topic 5: Standardized handling of /etc/init.d script options
STATE: APPROVAL
In Nov/Dec 97 there was a discussion on debian-policy about which standard
behaviour of /etc/init.d scripts can be expected. The result of the
discussion is the following policy proposal. Unless there are any
objections, this will become official policy.
Each /etc/init.d script _has_ to provide the following options:
start starts the daemon(s)
stop stops the daemon(s)
restart has to stop and start the daemon(s)
(just making the daemons reload their configuration
files is _NOT_ enough)
reload if possible, make daemon(s) refresh their configuration files
(it is important, that the daemon(s) are not stopped
by this option)
force-reload if possible do a "reload", otherwise "restart"
All these options have to be provided by all scripts. If an option is
not possible (i.e., the daemon does not support reloading) or fails,
an appropriate error message has to be written to stderr and a
non-zero error level has to be returned.
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