Re: Disable a service

[Joel Roth <joelz@pobox.com>]

On Sat, Apr 09, 2011 at 05:29:51PM -0400, John A. Sullivan III wrote:
> On Sat, 2011-04-09 at 11:05 -1000, Joel Roth wrote:
> > On Sat, Apr 09, 2011 at 11:04:52AM -0400, Dan wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > I would like to know which is the standard way to disable services. I
> > > thought that the standard way is just to delete the link of the
> > > service from rc*.d
> > > 
> > > For example to disable bluetooth I would just delete the link
> > > /etc/rc3.d/S20bluetooth that points to ../init.d/bluetooth
> > 
> > Some may disagree (and I've made this point before)
> > a standard way to prevent a script from
> > executing in Unixlike system is to set the 
> > permissions.
> > 
> > chmod a-x /etc/init.d/bluetooth
> > 
> <snip>
> I like that way but what happens when it is updated? It also generates
> errors on boot and shutdown but those can be ignored.  Thanks - John

I believe apt-get recognizes if a script has been modified (including
permission changes) and offers you the option of keeping
your current one, updating, looking at a diff, etc.
So you won't be blindsided.

Use of permissions to control execute permissions is
a Unix standard, even under Debian :-)

By providing a simple yes-or-now, it is suitable for me, as
allows me to work without mastering the intricacies of Debian's
services.

And it seems like a good example of how the Unix approach
allows you to administer your system.
 
If I needed to automate control of a large number of
systems, there could be advantages to using Debian tools.

     update-rc.d service-name disable

This makes sense, however, note the run-around Camale
had to go through to even find this command.

I might use it next time (now that I know about it)
although then I would have to look at the symlinks 
instead of just the init script to see that a 
service has been disabled.

At least knowing to check permissions has finally
made it through my thickly calcified cranial covering.
:-)

Cheers~

-- 
Joel Roth