hey, i've been having a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to say what programs can and cant start at start up. I've been looking for my init.d files and I found copies of it in /etc/ and in /etc/rc.d but the files are completly empty. Does this mean no programs start at start up or that im looking at the wrong files. Im using mandriva 2005 by the way.

I was also told to look for the xinetd daemon config file(although im not even sure what the xinetd daemon is) and its the same story for that. I've found xinetd.d but its empty. Can anyone help?

Thanks,
NNP

ok... what "files" are empty? the services are ones like /etc/init.d/apache, always in init.d on mandrake. xinetd will be in there too. basically Xinetd is a sub-server for any tiiiny little service that doesn't deserve it's own full blown service. files in /etc/rc3.d/ (non-X boot) and /etc/rc5.d (X boot) are symbolically named links to the real files in init.d and nothing more.

Never mind i thought init.d was a text file that contained links to the files that are supposed to be started. What is the best way to add/remove files from init.d? Are they just symbolic links or the actual program? The reason i want to know is that for some reason postfix is running on port 25 and i see no reason for it to be and i want to get rid of it.

Thanks,

NNP

So whats the point of them?

they control which scripts are actually run at each runlevel rc1.d to rc5.d

"S80sendmail" = startup sendmail in 80th place
"S08iptables" = start iptables in 8th place
"K15gpmd" = stop concsole mouse in 15th place.

different runlevels = different kinds of bootup.

the actual files in init.d are control scripts, they are not the programs. you would need to write your own if you want that functionality. just open one up and see what it does...

NNP,
One way to prevent a service like postfix from starting is to delete the corresponding link from
/etc/rc3.d and /etc/rc5.d. First make backup copies of these directories, named say /etc/rc3.d.orig and /etc/rc5.d.orig. Then delete from /etc/rc3.d and /etc/rc5.d the symbolic links of any service that you don't want started at bootup; in your case you can delete the links
@S80postfix. You should not delete any of the scripts in /etc/init.d. If later you do want to start postfix at boot, then simply copy the link back to /etc/rc3.d and /etc/rc5.d from the saved original directories. This only affects which services are started at boot time; so long as the scripts in /etc/init.d are not deleted then you can start a service at any time, for example with the command /etc/init.d/postfix start.

Or, instead of the manual method described above you can use the mandriva control tool. As root run the command drakconf (or select control center from the menu).