Comment conventions for init scripts

[Leni Mayo <leni@moniker.net>]

Hello -

I draw your attention to a implementation which is intended to be
compliant with the Provides: and Required-Start: keywords of: 
  http://www.linuxbase.org/spec/gLSB/gLSB/initscrcomconv.html
available at:
  http://www.fastboot.org

Also, some questions and observations.

1. Required-Stop: keyword

   My sense is that developers find it difficult enough to
   enumerate the start dependencies.  Encouraging script developers
   to enumerate the stop dependencies seems like a big ask.
   Any pointers to the rationale behind this would be interesting.

   Is it under consideration to support an idiom whereby stop
   dependencies are simply the reverse of the start dependencies?

   In terms of the serel implementation, it would be of great
   assistance if someone could point me to an implementation of
   the Required-Stop: keyword.

2. Has consideration been given to a "last" keyword?
   A script with this keyword would run after all others
   have finished.  Often times, this appears to be the 
   semantics people desire when they use the SysV-style S99local
   script.

3. Deployed systems will invariably comprise some scripts
   containing these keywords and some scripts that don't.
   If boot scripts are run to in parallel, the interaction of
   these two classes of scripts is important, and it may be that
   putting parameters around this interaction would aid 
   interoperability.

4. Scripts developers who wish to assert: "I don't know".

   After writing dependencies for over 50 popular services
   it appears to me that there is a signficant minority of
   script developers who wish to express:
   "I provide X, but I don't know what other services I depend on"
   These developers currently install as S99X.  Rather than
   bundling these services into the "no dependency information"
   category, some mechanism to express this idiom may be useful.

5. Should-start and should-stop
   It appears that these new keywords are on the horizon:
  
http://www.linuxbase.org/spec/gLSB/gLSB/initscrcomconv.html#AEN18935
   There is a variety of semantics possible for such keywords,
   if there are any postings that hint at the intended direction,
   I would appreciate someone pointing them out to me.

Cheers -

Leni.


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