[NBLUG/talk] The Debian Way

Troy Arnold troy at zenux.net
Thu Oct 27 17:28:36 PDT 2005


On Thu, Oct 27, 2005 at 04:46:17PM -0700, E Frank Ball wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 27, 2005 at 03:21:59PM -0700, Walter Hansen wrote:
> 
> } I do want to know what sort of mechanism is commonly used for starting and
> } stopping services and setting them up for run level. I'm used to the
> } RedHat/Mandrake 'service xxxxx start' and 'chckconfig xxxxx'. Are there
> } similar tools under Debian (shell/desktop)? Should I install tools I'm
> } used to or is it better to learn the Debian way?
> 
> I've just been manually making/removing symbolic links.  I won't claim
> it's better, but it works.  chckconfig was nicer, but it's not in debian.

update-rc.d is the Debian Way, although all it does is manipulate the
symlinks in /etc/rc?.d for you.  I don't personally like the Debian
assumption that if somehthing is installed, that you want to be using
it.  For instance, I like to keep a dhcpd configured and ready to go but
not running on my laptop.  Minor complaint.

To answer Walter's other question:  yeah, learning how to do things
Debian's way is worth the effort.  You end up with a basically
unbreakable system if you follow Debian policy.

To that end, Rob Orsini has been pimping _The Debian System: Concepts
and Techniques_ and rightfully so -- it's a damn fine book for Debian
geeks.
http://www.bookpool.com/sm/1593270690

-troy



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