ppr-list-digest volume 5, number 46, message 2

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From: David Chappell <David.Chappell@trincoll.edu>
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2003 13:21:54 -0400
Subject: PPR: Re: xinetd

owner-ppr-list@mail.cc.trincoll.edu wrote:
> To: ppr-list@mail.cc.trincoll.edu
> From: Alain.Lachapelle@smiths-heimann.com
> Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 14:26:24 +0200
> Subject: Re: xinetd

> Hi,
> 
> 
>>>Checking for "/usr/sbin/xinetd"... not found
>>>Checking for "/usr/sbin/inetd"... found
>>>Checking for "/etc/inetd.conf"... does not exist, aborting.
>>>make[1]: *** [install] Error 10
>>>make: *** [install] Error 1
> 
> 
>>>Using which I get this :
> 
> 
>>>bash-2.05a# which xinetd
>>>/usr/sbin/xinetd
> 
> 
>>The script is z_install_end/install_inetd.sh.  The test for Xinetd is:
> 
> 
>>if [ -f /usr/sbin/xinetd -a -d /etc/xinetd.d ]
> 
> 
>>You do have /etc/xinetd.d, don't you?  I was under the impression that 
>>it was pretty standard, but maybe it is a Mandrake Linux thing.
> 
> 
> This is a homemade Linux.  Nowhere in xinetd's documentation is there a 
> mention that the xinetd.d directory is mandatory.  Maybe a lot of distros 
> are doing it, putting config files into it, but a single xinetd.conf file 
> is also valid by xinetd's own documentation. Additionally, the two main 
> xinetd information pages from the xinetd web site are pushing forward the 
> single-file config.
> 
> Maybe you could check for the xinetd.conf file since this one must be 
> there.
> 
> Nb.: I've updated my e-mail address concerning the ppr-list.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Alain

That is interesting.  RedHat and Mandrake create an /etc/xinetd.conf 
file which ends with the line:

includedir /etc/xinetd.d

Services are added and removed from Xinetd by creating and erasing files 
in that directory.  Otherwise it would be very difficult to remove the 
Xinetd configuration information for a service when the service itself 
is removed.  I suspect the ability to reconfigure Xinetd by adding or 
deleting a file was a big factor in the descision to switch to Xinetd.

The question is, is the additional script complexity required to 
configure Xinetd without an /etc/xinetd.d directory worth it.

================================================================
David Chappell			David.Chappell@Mail.Trincoll.Edu
Computing Center		Postmaster@Mail.Trincoll.Edu
Trinity College			(860) 297-2114
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
U.S.A.