Arch Linux

Rouslan

Member

From: New York USA

Registered: 2002-11-13

Posts: 76

Thoughts about /etc/rc.d scripts

Recently, I noted that most (but not all) scripts look almost same except they start/stop/restart different daemons. So, if I wanted to create new daemon startup script(ntpd for example), I would copy gpm to ntpd and edit ntpd to fit my needs. In this editing, as a rule of thumb, I need to change five (only five!) things: daemon's full path, it's name as it would appear in echo command, its name as it would apper in add_daemon/rm_daemon sections, full path to a log file(if any), and any options with which a daemon to be runned. After thinking this over couple times, I started to wish to make the process of creating new daemon scripts easier, and this what I got:
Any daemon could have this form:

#!/bin/bash
# /etc/rc.d/this/file's/name 

PROG_PATH=/path/to/the/executable
PROG_NAME="This Daemon's Name"
PROG_LOG=/path/to/the/log  # Optional
PROG=this_daemon
PROG_OPT='-any -command-line -options'  # Optional

# Running the actual script to start/stop/restart this daemon:
. /etc/rc.d/runner $1

# end

For example, my gpm looks like this:

#!/bin/bash
# /etc/rc.d/gpm

PROG_PATH=/usr/sbin/gpm
PROG_NAME="GPM Daemon"
PROG=gpm
PROG_OPT='-m /dev/psaux -t ps2 -3'

. /etc/rc.d/runner $1

# end

The file /etc/rc.d/runner looks like this(and it does not need to be edited at any time, except upgrades)

#!/bin/bash
# /etc/rc.d/runner

. /etc/rc.conf
. /etc/rc.d/functions

PID=`pidof -o %PPID $PROG_PATH`
case "$1" in
  start)
    stat_busy "Starting $PROG_NAME"
        # I could not make scripts work with redirection sign in $PROG_OPT
        if [ "$PROG_LOG" = "" ]; then
                [ -z "$PID" ] && $PROG_PATH $PROG_OPT
        else
                [ -z "$PID" ] && $PROG_PATH $PROG_OPT &> $PROG_LOG 
        fi
    if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
      stat_fail
    else
      add_daemon $PROG
      stat_done
    fi
    ;;
  stop)
    stat_busy "Stopping $PROG_NAME"
    [ ! -z "$PID" ]  && kill $PID &> /dev/null
    if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then
      stat_fail
    else
      rm_daemon $PROG
      stat_done
    fi
    ;;
  restart)
    $0 stop
    $0 start
    ;;
  *)
    echo "usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"  
esac
exit 0

# end

I did not edit files sshd, network, and nfsmount, because oftheir uniqueness. if you want to check out the scripts, they are at ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/incoming/RouslanScripts.tar.gz. In case if you are curious if this stuff works, the answer is yes, I'm currently using it and there're no problems yet.
I hope this was helpful.

---

Rouslan

jk

Member

From: Groningen, The Netherlands

Registered: 2002-10-24

Posts: 66

Website

Re: Thoughts about /etc/rc.d scripts

I thought about this, and liked the thought. Now that you made it, I like it even more :-)