Bug 248865

To reproduce, paste the following into a file named /usr/local/etc/rc.d/placebo

------------>8 snip 8<---------
#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.subr

name=placebo
rcvar=placebo_enable
start_cmd="${name}_start"
stop_cmd="${name}_stop"

placebo_start()
{
  sleep 5
}

placebo_stop()
{
  sleep 5
}

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"
------------>8 snip 8<---------

Enable the service in /etc/rc.conf ...

# sysrc placebo="YES"

Verify the service runs ...

# service placebo start
# service placebo stop

... now reboot.

# reboot

The above service is NOT run by /etc/rc because it does not contain a '# PROVIDE: ' clause.

Typo fix:
# sysrc placebo_enable="YES"

Comment 3 Cy Schubert 2021-02-24 14:37:36 UTC

The rc(8) man page says:

     Each script should contain rcorder(8) keywords, especially an appropriate
     "PROVIDE" entry, and if necessary "REQUIRE" and "BEFORE" keywords.

A scan of rc scripts shows that many of the ports I have installed don't have PROVIDE.

slippy$ grep -c PROVIDE /etc/rc.d/* | grep :0               
slippy$ grep -c PROVIDE /usr/local/etc/rc.d/* | grep :0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/cvsupd.sh:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/fwlogwatch.sh.sample:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/racoon2:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/ssyncd.init:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/tdetect.sh:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/vboxtoolinit:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/zzz-jail.sh:0
slippy$ 

Note that racoon2 is provided by the upstream software, written by a NetBSD committer. RCNG was a NetBSD idea.

And the scripts with no keywords are either invalid or 

slippy$ egrep -c 'PROVIDE|REQUIRE|BEFORE|KEYWORD' /usr/local/etc/rc.d/* | grep :0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/cvsupd.sh:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/fwlogwatch.sh.sample:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/ssyncd.init:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/tdetect.sh:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/vboxtoolinit:0
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/zzz-jail.sh:0
slippy$ 

Much of this is not provided by the port but the upstream tarball. Now it becomes an issue for the greater community, not just you or me, whether we relax the rules and do no checking whatsoever or enforce some arbitrary rule that each rc script must have at least one keyword.

I think the best path forward is to start a discussion on freebsd-arch because we will have the largest audience there, and point to a phabricator revision with a proposed solution. I'm of the opinion to print out a warning using logger(1) but run or not run the script based on some arbitrary rc.conf setting. This avoids a POLA violation since those scripts were never executed in the first place. But to execute them is also a POLA violation, Both defaults would be a POLA violation but which would be worse?

Comment 4 Cy Schubert 2021-02-24 15:30:00 UTC

Having stepped away from this to reconsider, while in the shower but before coffee, making PROVIDES mandatory is the answer. But why?

A scan through the scripts in /usr/local/etc/rc.d without any keywords, some don't have start or stop functions, they implicitly start. One, a virtualbox script is an old-style pre-systemd Red Hat startup script. Executing those would be problematic.

The only other script without a PROVIDES is racoon2 and it has a KEYWORD: nostart (which causes it not to start at boot anyway) because as per the comments in the script it's not to be autostarted but run by hand.

I think we have our answer. I'll update the documentation to say that PROVIDES: is required.

Thoughts?

Thanks Cy. This works for me.

Comment 6 Cy Schubert 2021-03-11 03:44:54 UTC

Created attachment 223178 [details]
PROVIDE must be present

PROVIDE must be present.

Comment 7 Cy Schubert 2021-10-06 14:31:36 UTC

In doc documentation/content/en/books/porters-handbook/special/_index.adoc, it says:

The following key word must be included in all startup scripts as it is required
 by man:rc.subr[8] to "enable" the startup script:
 
* `PROVIDE`: Specifies the services this file provides.

This is already documented.