writing an init.d script

[Tom 'Needs A Hat' Mitchell]

On Mon, May 10, 2004 at 07:23:39AM +0200, Chadley Wilson wrote:
> On Fri, 2004-05-07 at 07:28, Jay Daniels wrote:
...
> > damn it man, how hard can that be;)
...

> This might be easy for you, but I have tried several times and the
> syntax is really confusing for some one who has not done this before.
> I have even tried to modify existing ones. I have read a few docs too,
> but I can't seem to get the nack for it. I think it boils down to a
> complete understanding of how scripts work and learning the syntax.

Complete.... now that is a task ;-)

I recommend starting with"

	     "The UNIX Programming Environment" by
	     Kernighan and Pike.  
	     (Prentice Hall)

No other book addresses the issue of understanding how stuff works in
a *nix environment.  It is a bit dated but it has the most economical
350 pages of introduction to *unix that I have found to date.

The real key to scripts is that unix scripts glue a collection of
smaller functional tools together in interesting ways.  i.e. it is not
sufficient to just learn 'shell' (bash), you also have to be aware of
all the other tools out there.

After reading Kernighan and Pike read the existing scripts and use
them as excercises for understanding.


-- 
	T o m  M i t c h e l l 
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