Debian / Ubuntu conf.d crazy

[David Bandel]

On 6/3/06, James McDonald <james at jamesmcdonald.id.au> wrote:

[snip]

>
> Anyway I thought why not try Ubuntu for a while since I have become such
> a RH/Fedora devotee that I wouldn't mind seeing how the other half live,
> so to speak.
>

[snip]

>
> There are advantages to splitting your conf files up I suppose but right
> now I can't think of many

How about trying to run an ISP or hosting service.  Then you'll very
quickly see how Apache2's conf.d setup is a blessing.  Various sites
are much easier to maintain in separate files than one monolithic
monstrosity (at least, after you have 40+ web domains, it becomes a
monolithic monstrosity).

>
> >From a system administration point of view I think RH/Fedora is
> providing a more unified set of tools. chkconfig seems to be a bit less
> obscure to use than update-rc.d.
>
> I think in another few months I will be acclimatized and will probably
> be happy with either but the first few nights trying to get back everything
> one had is a learning curve.

Changing distros is often traumatic but need not be.  Documentation
these days is plentiful (wish I had time to read some of it).

You want a learning curve, go run HP-UX, AIX, or install Solaris
x86,*BSD (I recommend OpenBSD) or QNX on your system and play for a
while.

HINT: start with inittab (or the equivalent which is different on
*BSD) and understand how things boot up (some go through scripts in
each rc#.d directory up to the runlevel, some, like Linux, don't).
Read the startup scripts.  But at least you know where to find
configuration files: /etc.  That's more than can be said about non-*ix
systems.

Ciao,

David A. Bandel
-- 
Focus on the dream, not the competition.
            - Nemesis Air Racing Team motto