Confusing reuse of "enable the swap file" phrase in the Handbook

Marc Fonvieille blackend at freebsd.org
Mon Jan 5 11:01:26 UTC 2004


On Mon, Jan 05, 2004 at 02:28:50AM -0800, Rostislav Krasny wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> There are two examples of creating a swap file on FreeBSD 4.x/5.x in a
> "6.14.3 Swapfiles" section of the Handbook. Both examples have
> following three lines:
> 
> 5. enable the swap file in /etc/rc.conf:
>       swapfile="/usr/swap0"   # Set to name of swapfile if aux swapfile
> desired.
> 6. Reboot the machine or to enable the swap file immediately, type:
> 
> Reuse of "enable the swap file" phrase on these two example steps may
> confuse someone. IMHO it is better to change the "enable" word of the
> 5th steps to something like "define" or "designate".
>

In fact you really enable the swapfile via the mentioned line in the
rc.conf file.  As any rc.conf addition, you need a reboot.
If you want to enable directly the swapfile (i.e. without a reboot) the
text gives you the right command.
This is similar to for example sshd which can be enable via a specific
line in rc.conf and a reboot of the box or directly via the sshd
command at prompt.

> P.S. Whereas the first and the last steps of both examples are starting
> by capital letters the rest are starting by small letters. Shouldn't
> all the steps start by the same case letters?
> 

I agree, it's not consistent.

Marc



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