An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

Barrucadu · 2008-03-30 21:41:06

Hello, I have a really weird question for my first post. I haven't had any luck elsewhere, so I'm now turning here.

I have Arch set up to boot into Xfce with gdm, hal, fam, samba, et cetera. I also have the ability to boot into a terminal from GRUB.

I would like to know if it is possible to specify an alternate rc.conf file to be used in GRUB. Ideally, I would like to have "Arch Full" which has everything running, "Arch Server" which has no GUI and samba httpd and mysqld running, "Arch Minimal" which is just a terminal, and so on. I was planning to make a seperate rc.conf file for each. Something like "/etc/rc.conf.full", "/etc/rc.conf.server", et cetera.
Is it possible to change the rc.conf file used by passing a parameter in GRUB? I looked into the kernel boot parameters, but that didn't help.

Last edited by Barrucadu (2008-03-30 21:43:52)

retsaw · 2008-03-30 22:22:35

AFAIK, there isn't this functionality built into the Arch boot scripts. If you want this functionality then you could edit /etc/rc.sysinit so it chooses which rc.conf file to source based on a kernel boot parameter.

carlocci · 2008-03-30 22:32:15

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Adding_Runlevels

You might want to edit rc.single too, as it does a somewhat ugly

if [ "$PREVLEVEL" = "3" -o "$PREVLEVEL" = "5" ]; then
  # Shutdown daemons

But who ever needed to go single user anyway?

edit: I just noticed the wiki page is wrong (I think)

rm:2345:wait:/etc/rc.multi
rm:5:wait:/etc/rc.multi5

should be

rm:234:wait:/etc/rc.multi
rn:5:wait:/etc/rc.multi5

Last edited by carlocci (2008-03-30 22:40:30)

Barrucadu · 2008-03-30 22:42:14

retsaw wrote:

AFAIK, there isn't this functionality built into the Arch boot scripts. If you want this functionality then you could edit /etc/rc.sysinit so it chooses which rc.conf file to source based on a kernel boot parameter.

That sounds like my best option. I've never done anything like this before, so how would I go about checking the boot parameters?

Barrucadu · 2008-03-30 22:51:39

I've just tried the runlevels method and get a kernel panic. I am using runlevels 7 and 8. Normal Arch still works fine though.

Edit: I just switched to runlevels 2 and 4. It all works
By disabling all the daemons, my "Arch Mini" uses 26MB of RAM!

Last edited by Barrucadu (2008-03-30 23:03:37)

Misfit138 · 2008-03-30 23:41:11

Barrucadu wrote:

I've just tried the runlevels method and get a kernel panic. I am using runlevels 7 and 8. Normal Arch still works fine though.
Edit: I just switched to runlevels 2 and 4. It all works
By disabling all the daemons, my "Arch Mini" uses 26MB of RAM!

Wow. That is impressive. That's like sub-Damn Small Linux-land.

carlocci · 2008-04-01 18:23:35

Barrucadu wrote:

retsaw wrote:
AFAIK, there isn't this functionality built into the Arch boot scripts. If you want this functionality then you could edit /etc/rc.sysinit so it chooses which rc.conf file to source based on a kernel boot parameter.
That sounds like my best option. I've never done anything like this before, so how would I go about checking the boot parameters?

you can find them in /proc/cmdline

alex_anthony · 2008-04-01 20:32:33

Put what you did in the wiki. It would be interesting to try that some time without having to find this thread.

Barrucadu · 2008-04-02 10:33:36

I'm not sure what to put in the wiki - I just followed the steps in there.

alex_anthony · 2008-04-02 11:36:13

well what changes did you have to make to rc.sysinit? Maybe post your edited version

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-30 21:41:06

An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#2 2008-03-30 22:22:35

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#3 2008-03-30 22:32:15

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#4 2008-03-30 22:42:14

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#5 2008-03-30 22:51:39

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#6 2008-03-30 23:41:11

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#7 2008-04-01 18:23:35

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#8 2008-04-01 20:32:33

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#9 2008-04-02 10:33:36

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

#10 2008-04-02 11:36:13

Re: An unusual question about rc.conf. Not really sure where to put it.

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