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Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:21:55 -0800
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Subject: Re: init-config has incorrect path for /etc/rc.d/rc [FIX]
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From: Bruce Jerrick via Cygwin <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
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On 1/13/26 22:09, matthew patton wrote:

> or is it a case someone broke/removed the symlink from /etc/rc to /etc/rc.d/rc? Or more correctly /etc/rc -> /etc/init.d/rc.Removed, I believe, not broke.  See below re executables in /etc .

> /etc/rc dates back to SunOS v4 at least. Similarly /etc/init and /sbin/init.
Long before any SunOS or BSD.  It was probably in Version 6 Unix .
Way back then (as they say), /etc contained "system" executables, as 
well as config files.
The executables were eventually moved to /sbin .  I don't remember if 
that happened in BSD or SunOS.  It was /sbin, then, not /usr/sbin, 
because they had to be available before /usr was mounted (SunOS commonly 
got a read-only /usr via NFS).

> /etc/rc.d (and children like /etc/rc[0-6].d) is more of a "expression of state" directory.
Agreed, but only in regard to /etc/rc.d/rc[0-6].d .
(A better name for /etc/rc.d (or /etc/init.d) would be /etc/init, since 
a ".d" suffix usually implies optional contents.)

> The actual scripts are supposed to live in /etc/init.d/.
See my "ideal" fix below.
'rc' and rc.sysinit are special cases -- they're called via
/etc/inittab, and don't have to be added to the rc[0-6].d dirs.
rc.local is also a special case -- it's source'd rc.sysinit .

> Your local /etc/inittab should be FULL of references to /etc/init.d/rc like so:
> ...
> # System initialization
> si::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS
> 
> # Runlevel scriptsI woul
> l0:0:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 0
> l1:1:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 1
> l2:2:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 2
> l3:3:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 3
> l4:4:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 4
> l5:5:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 5
> l6:6:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 6
Not so in /etc/defaults/etc/inittab -- those subdirs are all "rc.d", not 
init.d .  See my comments above re 'rc' being a special case.


In any case, the patches I suggested are a minimal fix to a broken
init-config (I'm not being argumentative, just pragmatic :).

I would regard the "ideal" fix to be:
   Rename /etc/rc.d/ to be /etc/init/ .
   Retain rc, rc.sysinit, and rc.local in /etc/init/ .
   Move /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions to /etc/init/ .
   Reserve /etc/init/init.d/ for locally-added scripts.
   (And, of course, tweak all the affected paths everywhere.
    Unfortunately, that includes /usr/sbin/chkconfig.exe .)

-- Bruce Jerrick

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