Allow rc.nfsd to be started without /etc/exports (suggestion for current)
 

Hi,

In the 14.1 and probably previous versions too, the /etc/rc.d/rc.nfsd will exit immediately if there is no /etc/exports or if /etc/exports has no exports defined.

Suggestion for next release:
Allow the /etc/rc.d/rc.nfsd to start, even if there is no /etc/exports or if there are no exports defined.

Motivation:
I do embedded development and have boards booting over the NFS. For that reason I have my own script, which among other things will export specified directory using exportfs command. Sometimes I need to change the NFS boot directory for different boards and for that reason (e.g. not to edit it all the time and rerun rc.nfsd) I'm not using /etc/exports but my own script. But for the script to work I need the NFS to be up and running, which at the moment I accomplish by adding dummy entry in /etc/exports to allow rc.nfsd to run. I just don't want to reimplement the rc.nfsd in my own script. What do you think?

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Best regards,
Andrzej Telszewski

The first thing I ever do after a slackware install is to edit the rc.nfsd file by commenting out the test for empty or non-existent /etc/exports, yeah, a slight hassle but no biggie ...

Hi,

Perfect, I'm not the only one in the need;)

Well, if the change does not pose a security risk, I'd prefer to see it merged.
The yield would be one step less to perform after installation;)

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Best regards,
Andrzej Telszewski