Re: force-reload/restart

Hi,

On Sat, 9 Aug 2003, Thorsten Kukuk wrote:
> currently we define "force-reload" as "cause the configuration to be
> reloaded if the service supports this, otherwise restart the service".
> And we define "restart" as "stop and restart the service if the
> service is already running, otherwise start the service".
>
> The result is: If a service supports SIGHUP and is not running, a
> "force-reload" will give you an error. If a service does not support
> SIGHUP, a "force-reload" will start the service, if it is not running
> before.

And there is in addition [as a slight contradiction]:
"If the service is not running the reload and the force-reload commands
 should not start the service."

(Note the "should" opposed to a "must".)

> So I suggest do change "force-reload" to:
> "cause the configuration to be reloaded if the service supports this,
> otherwise restart the service if it is running".

I'm fine with this.

Any objections to this patch which requires that force-reload doesn't
start a not-running servce?

Questions:
- Should the sentence
  "If the service is not running the reload and the force-reload commands
   must not start the service."
  be present as clarification of reload? Or is this obvious?
  (current patch drops the cited sentence with "should")

- Is the exit status code clear for force-reload if the service is not
  running? Given the discussion concerning "try-restart" it might not be
  the case. The attached patch adds
  "- running "reload" on a service already stopped or not running",
  "- running "force-reload" on a service already stopped or not running"
  to the list of actions which shall be considered successful.

Tobias

Index: initactions.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/lsb/lsbspec/gLSB/sysinit/initactions.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.8
diff -u -r1.8 initactions.sgml
--- initactions.sgml	8 Aug 2003 20:04:20 -0000	1.8
+++ initactions.sgml	12 Aug 2003 11:11:10 -0000
@@ -14,14 +14,14 @@
 <MEMBER>reload</MEMBER><MEMBER>cause the configuration of the service to be
 reloaded without actually stopping and restarting the service</MEMBER>
 <MEMBER>force-reload</MEMBER><MEMBER>cause the configuration to be reloaded
-if the service supports this, otherwise restart the service</MEMBER>
+if the service supports this, otherwise restart the service if it is
+running</MEMBER>
 <MEMBER>status</MEMBER><MEMBER>print the current status of the service</MEMBER>
 </SIMPLELIST>
 <PARA>
 The start, stop, restart, force-reload, and status commands must be supported
 by all init files; the reload and the try-restart options are optional. Other
-init script actions may be defined by the init script.  If the service is not
-running the reload and the force-reload commands should not start the service.
+init script actions may be defined by the init script.
 </PARA>
 <PARA>
 Init files must ensure that they will behave sensibly if invoked
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@
 </PARA></LISTITEM>
 <LISTITEM><PARA>
 running "try-restart" on a service already stopped or not running
+</PARA></LISTITEM>
+<LISTITEM><PARA>
+running "reload" on a service already stopped or not running
+</PARA></LISTITEM>
+<LISTITEM><PARA>
+running "force-reload" on a service already stopped or not running
 </PARA></LISTITEM>
 </ITEMIZEDLIST>