Addition to reboot(8): reboot / halt reasons

[Daniel Lang]

Hi,

Christopher Nehren wrote on Tue, Sep 02, 2003 at 08:55:23AM -0400:
> On Tue, 2003-09-02 at 00:36, Sean Kelly wrote:
> > Err.. Wouldn't it just be easier to use the `shutdown` command?
> > I suggest you check `man 8 shutdown` out.
> 
> I'll concede and admit that I should have RTFM'd. But in the same vein,
> if shutdown(8) provides the functionality of halt(8) and reboot(8), why
> do they exist as separate programs? I'm probably missing something here,
> but wouldn't it be easier to just combine shutdown and reboot / halt, as
> reboot and halt already are?

Yes, you are missing something.

shutdown(8) is a sort-of frontend to reboot/halt. It contains
additional functionality and calls /sbin/halt or /sbin/reboot.
So the combination already exists. Further halt(8) and
reboot(8) are the same program, as you can easily verify using
ls -i.

The shutdown(8) frontend adds warning-messages and grace-time
features to reboot/halt. 

HTH,
 Daniel
-- 
IRCnet: Mr-Spock                    - All your .sigs are belong to us -
 Daniel Lang * dl at leo.org * +49 89 289 18532 * http://www.leo.org/~dl/
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