[CFT] packaging the base system with pkg(8)

[dan_partelly]

This is one of the issue I perceive with using scripts/ intermediate
programs 
as a  glue, a problem which does not exist when the daemons are integrated

tighter. You basically give up all the power which arises from
inter-operating 
daemons give to the system. 

It is also the main problem FreeBSD's rc system presents. Because all is a

scaffolding of shell scripts, it basically gives you 0 of the power modern

service management offer. Most important are service life cycle
management,
restart policies, delegated administration  and fault reporting. The only
thing 
you gain is easy  debugability (no small boon)but it is easily outweighted
by all 
other advantages of a modern service manager. 

> 
> Well, even if we went this route, this wouldn't quite work, because
> the automountd daemon actually doesn't need those notifications.
> It's the "-media" map that does.  Other parts of autofs don't have
> any special code for media handling.

About shell scripts in general as a glue:

Yes, they are easily debuggable and customized. Yet I believe that all
that 
power should be hidden,and it should be unnecessary to tap into it for 95%
of 
administrative needs.   It is my perception that less and less people are 
interested in exploring the countless ranges of customization such
scaffolding 
of scripts offer. People are interested in sane defaults, easy to specify
policies and fault reporting. Life is too short to explore myriad of 
customizations, unless you really have to. And most of the time, you dont
need 
to.

Thats not to say shell scripts dont have their place. They do. I use them 
too, both on  unixes and tcl scripts for adding fast functionality in
csico 
devices. But as a glue between essential operating system subsystems, it
is
my oppinion that we are 10 years too late in replacing them.