SEUL: Reuse vs. new code (was Re: Idea for SEUL startup)

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@aracnet.com>]

>	1- Ditch sysvinit, write a new init.

While the goals listed below (in the original message) are reasonable, the 
method isn't:

If we ditch sysvinit, we lose all the hard work that has been put into making 
it a stable, usable package.  We then go off and write our own, non-standard 
init, which won't be stable for who knows how long, and works only in our 
environment.

One of our underlying operational goals should be to reuse as much as we 
possibly can.  In the case of init, we use sysvinit, but hide the details of 
operating it behind the admin system.  What sysvinit does is required, how it 
does it is very good, and what we are using it is what it was designed for.

As a side note, remember that system startup and user login are two separate 
events.  Normal users will not be touching the system startup procedures, as 
that is part of the OS, not how they use the system.  On that front, however, 
I'd like to see something like a sysvinit-style mechanism behind the Startup 
folder (or whatever) that gets called from the normal X startup processes.

        Erik Walthinsen - Programmer, webmaster, 3D artist, etc.   __
  __                                                              / /\
 /  \           omega@sequent.com         Work: (503)578-5314    / /  \
|    | M E G A  omega@aracnet.com         Home: (503)281-4281   / / /\ \
_\  /_          psu12113@odin.cc.pdx.edu  Majoring in CS       / / /\ \ \
                                                              / /_/__\ \ \
Omega Station: http://www.aracnet.com/~omega/                /________\ \ \
     Info on Linux, Graphics, Descent, Laptops, etc.         \___________\/