References

Concept

#
# /etc/rc.d - originated from Luke Mewburn and the NetBSD community
#
# Idea behind BSD rc.d:
# - each "service" gets its own shell script able to start/stop/reload/status
# - the syntax is: /etc/rc.d/my-service start/stop/reload/status
# - /etc/rc          - drives the startup, it calls smaller scripts with `start` argument
# - /etc/rc.shutdown - calls smaller scripts with `stop` argument
# - /etc/rc.subr     - common operations implemented as shell functions
# - rcorder          - helps /etc/rc and /etc/rc.shutdown run the small scripts and respect dependencies
#

Example 1

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/rc-scripting/rcng-dummy.html

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.subr

name="dummy"
start_cmd="${name}_start"
stop_cmd=":"

dummy_start()
{
	echo "Nothing started."
}

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"

Example 2

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/rc-scripting/rcng-daemon.html

The command variable is meaningful to rc.subr
If it is set, rc.subr(8) will act according to the scenario of serving a conventional daemon and provide arguments start / stop / restart / poll / status
The daemon will be started by running $command with command-line flags specified by $mumbled_flags.
stop must know the PID of the process to terminate it, rc.subr will scan through the list of all processes, looking for a process with its name equal to $procname a variable meaningful to rc.subr(8) and its value defaults to that of $command.

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.subr

name=mumbled
rcvar=mumbled_enable

command="/usr/sbin/${name}"

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"

Example - Advanced

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/rc-scripting/rcng-daemon-adv.html

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.subr

name=mumbled
rcvar=mumbled_enable

command="/usr/sbin/${name}"
command_args="mock arguments > /dev/null 2>&1"						# (1)

pidfile="/var/run/${name}.pid"										# (2)

required_files="/etc/${name}.conf /usr/share/misc/${name}.rules"	# (3)

sig_reload="USR1"													# (4)

start_precmd="${name}_prestart"										# (5)
stop_postcmd="echo Bye-bye"											# (6)

extra_commands="reload plugh xyzzy"									# (7)

plugh_cmd="mumbled_plugh"											# (8)
xyzzy_cmd="echo 'Nothing happens.'"

mumbled_prestart()
{
	if checkyesno mumbled_smart; then								# (9)
		rc_flags="-o smart ${rc_flags}"								# (10)
	fi
	case "$mumbled_mode" in
	foo)
		rc_flags="-frotz ${rc_flags}"
		;;
	bar)
		rc_flags="-baz ${rc_flags}"
		;;
	*)
		warn "Invalid value for mumbled_mode"						# (11)
		return 1													# (12)
		;;
	esac
	run_rc_command xyzzy											# (13)
	return 0
}

mumbled_plugh()														# (14)
{
	echo 'A hollow voice says "plugh".'
}

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"

(1) - arguments to command can be passed in command_args, added to the command line after mumbled_flags
(2) - create a pidfile so that its process can be found more easily and reliably
(3) - list them in required_files and rc.subr will check that those files do exist
(4) - customize signals to send to the daemon in case they differ from the well-known ones
(5,6) - performing additional tasks before or after the default methods is easy
(7) - if we would like to implement custom arguments, list them in extra_commands and provide methods to handle them
(8,14) - our script supports two non-standard commands, plugh and xyzzy listed in extra_commands, now provide methods
(9) - a handy function named checkyesno is provided by rc.subr
(10) - we can affect the flags to be passed to $command by modifying rc_flags in $start_precmd
(11) - emit an important message that go to syslog as well, can be done with debug info warn err from rc.subr
(12) - if argument_precmd returns non-zero then main method will not be executed, argument_postcmd invoked if main returns 0
(13) - a script can invoke its own standard or non-standard commands if needed

Example - Integrate script into rc.d framework

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/rc-scripting/rcng-hookup.html
To integrate into rc.d
- install to /etc/rc.d/SERVICE
- install to /usr/local/etc/rc.d/SERVICE for ports
- <bsd.prog.mk> and <bsd.port.mk>
  - provide hooks for that, do not have to worry about the proper ownership and mode
- system scripts should be installed from src/etc/rc.d through the Makefile found there

#!/bin/sh

# PROVIDE: mumbled oldmumble 									# (1)
# REQUIRE: DAEMON cleanvar frotz								# (2)
# BEFORE:  LOGIN												# (3)
# KEYWORD: nojail shutdown										# (4)

. /etc/rc.subr

name=mumbled
rcvar=mumbled_enable

command="/usr/sbin/${name}"
start_precmd="${name}_prestart"

mumbled_prestart()
{
	if ! checkyesno frotz_enable && \
	    ! /etc/rc.d/frotz forcestatus 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then
		force_depend frotz || return 1							# (5)
	fi
	return 0
}

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"

(1) - declares the names of "conditions" our script provides
(2,3) - tells rcorder to start DAEMON and cleanvar, then this one then LOGIN
(4) - rcorder keywords can be used to keep(-k) or sleep(-s) out some scripts. From all the files to be dependency sorted, rcorder will pick only those having a keyword from the keep list and not having a keyword from the skip list.
- rcorder is used by /etc/rc and /etc/rc.shutdown these two scripts define the standard list of FreeBSD rc.d keywords
  - nojail - service is not for jail environment, the automatic startup and s hutdown procedures will ignore the script if inside a jail
  - nostart - service is to be started manually only
  - shutdown - service needs to be stopped before system shutdown
    - at shutdown /etc/rc.shutdown runs and assumes that most rc.d scripts have nothing to do at that time, it selectively in reverse order invokes rc.d scripts with the shutdown keyword only. For even faster shutdown /etc/rc.shutdown passes the faststop command to the scripts it runs so that they skip preliminary checks like the pidfile.
(5) - force_depend should be used with much care, better to revise the hierarchy of configuration variables for your rc.d scripts if they are interdependent. Our mumbled daemon requires that another frotz be started in advance.

Example - Integrate script into rc.d framework - More flexibility

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/rc-scripting/rcng-args.html

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.subr

name="dummy"
start_cmd="${name}_start"
stop_cmd=":"
kiss_cmd="${name}_kiss"
extra_commands="kiss"

dummy_start()
{
        if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then						# 1
                echo "Greeting message: $*"
        else
                echo "Nothing started."
        fi
}

dummy_kiss()
{
        echo -n "A ghost gives you a kiss"
        if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then						# 2
                echo -n " and whispers: $*"
        fi
        case "$*" in
        *[.!?])
                echo
                ;;
        *)
                echo .
                ;;
        esac
}

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$@"									# 3

(1) - arguments you type after start can end up as positional parameters to the respective method
- ex: /etc/rc.d/dummy start Hello world!
(2) - same applies to any method our script provides
- ex: /etc/rc.d/dummy kiss Once I was Etaoin Shrdlu...
(3) - if we want to pass all extra arguments to any method, substitute "$@" for "$1" in the last line where we invoke run_rc_command

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References

Concept

Example 1

Example 2

Example - Advanced

Example - Integrate script into rc.d framework

Example - Integrate script into rc.d framework - More flexibility

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References

Concept

Example 1

Example 2

Example - Advanced

Example - Integrate script into rc.d framework

Example - Integrate script into rc.d framework - More flexibility