[TriLUG] no rc.local file in SUSE8.0

[Stephen P. Schaefer]

In the old, old days -- and for some versions of Unix, and even some 
Linux distributions, even now -- things that you wanted to run when your 
machine booted were put into /etc/rc.boot.  The /etc/rc.boot script 
would end by invoking /etc/rc.local.  New things that you added to the 
machine and wanted to run at boot time would get started from 
/etc/rc.local.  Starting with AT&T System V (perhaps even III), the 
contents of /etc/rc.boot and /etc/rc.local were split into a collection 
of individual scripts, which live in /etc/init.d.  These are then linked 
into /etc/rc2.d or /etc/rc3.d or /etc/rc5.d, with the digits 
corresponding to different run levels: 2 for multiuser, 3 for multiuser 
plus file server, 5 for multiuser plus run the X server (graphics 
window).  The scripts are named "S99", with the 99 being replaced by a 
two or three digit number.  The scripts are executed in the order that 
"echo *" shows them in the /etc/rcn.d directory, so the decimal digits 
allow you to specify the order in which the scripts run.

Now, I believe SuSE does things this way, but they don't have to.

What you'll want to do is find one of the simplest startup scripts in 
/etc/init.d, copy that to an appropriate name for what you're 
installing, and then change it to invoke the startup procedure that you 
were instructed to add to /etc/rc.local.  Finally, link it into the 
rc3.d and rc5.d directories.

It's possible that the program you're dealing with already has an 
appropriate startup script.

Good luck,

     - Stephen P. Schaefer

Mike Kelley wrote:
> I'm new to Linux so this might be a silly question but one of the things 
> I'm trying to install says to place an entry in the rc.local file but I 
> don't seem to have an rc.local file.  Anyone know what I should be 
> editing instead?
>  
> Mike