SMFication Project registered + proposal

[Erast Benson]

Hi,

Trying to utilize Launchpad for NexentaOS development and possible
further cooperation. I registered a new project:

SMFication Project: http://launchpad.net/projects/smf-nexenta

In NexentaOS we are using SMF to manage system services. (see an
overview below). As of now, there are a lot of Ubuntu packages which are
based on old silly SYSV init scripts. SMF does support SYSV init scripts
as a legacy services. Example:

# svcs | grep legacy
legacy_run     Mar_27   lrc:/etc/rcS_d/S70screen-cleanup
legacy_run     Mar_27   lrc:/etc/rcS_d/S75sudo
legacy_run     Mar_27   lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S12dbus
legacy_run     Mar_27   lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S20festival
legacy_run     Mar_27   lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S20mysql

But there are no "self-healing" and related benefits for legacy services
possible. The cleanest solution would be to adopt existing Ubuntu
packages to use SMF manifests on SMF-enabled core, like OpenSolaris and
possible future Ubuntu port of SMF service manager. I'm thinking that
SMF adoption by Ubuntu could be in benefit for both distributions.

I'm looking for people who would be interested in such a work, i.e.
Ubuntu port of SMF service manager and SMFication of existing Ubuntu
packages. Join the project at Launchpad!

An Overview of the Service Management Facility

Self-healing services are delivered and managed on OpenSolaris with the
Service Management Facility (smf(5)). smf(5) augments the existing
init.d(4) and inetd(1M) startup mechanisms, promoting the service to a
first-class operating system object.

Administrators can now:

    * view system-wide service status,
    * manage services, not just their individual processes,
    * access information about misconfigured/misbehaving services,
    * enable and disable services persistently across upgrades and
patches,
    * delegate tasks to non-root users securely, and
    * more reliably access the console in repair scenarios.

smf(5) gives developers:

    * automated restart of services in dependency order due to
administrative errors, software bugs, or uncorrectable hardware errors,
    * a single API for service management, configuration, and
observation,
    * access to service-based resource management, and
    * simplified boot-process debugging.

Few links to get started:

    * Existing Manifests which could be partially adopted by Ubuntu
packages: http://www.blastwave.org/smf/manifests.php

    * Official SMF community site:
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/smf

    * Wiki at GNU/OpenSolaris web site:
http://www.gnusolaris.org/gswiki/SMFication

-- 
Erast