On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 14:29:25 +0100, Kronocide <henning@kronocide.com> wrote:

> It seems one of the rules of creating your own Linux dist is to make
> sure your init config doesn't look like anyone else's. It's not just a
> matter of a layer of config tools on top of the standard files, etc.
> The hierarchy of scripts is really different from Red Hat to Slackware
> to Ubuntu.
>
> So I'm at a loss. If I can't teach how to make Apache start at boot, I
> can't really teach them how to compile and install from source. Since
> the students choose whatever dist they like, I can't really teach
> installing Apache at all. To me, that is an essential part of the
> course.

I think this is a better approach: Teach them how to start apache using
means that comes with apache. Teach them to write a script that does
whatever it takes in a chosen arrangement of yours. Then tell them that
distributors have made (dis)similar choices, and each student should
investigate how it is done in their distribution. Make it a homework
assignment to write a short description of their own environment.

In other words, your mission is not to teach them a recipe of twenty
keypresses and two mouse gestures that installs apache as a service on
a computer running no matter what distribution. Your mission is to
enable them to figure out how it is done on their particular distro,
with the fallback of writing a script they can stick in /etc/inittab.

As far as I know, all distros start from init and /etc/inittab. Teach
them to start there if everything else fails.

-Enrique