rc_conf

rc_conf provides an rc-like configuration syntax inspired by FreeBSD's init system. The core principle of rc_conf is that the configuration should be separated from the runtime. rc_conf achieves exactly that by putting the configuration into an rc.conf file (much like /etc/rc.conf on BSD) and then using the configuration to run programs via rc.d service stubs.

For example: A memcached service deploy starts with two pieces. The first is the rc.d service stub. It looks like this:

#!/usr/bin/env rcscript

DESCRIBE=A single memcached instance.
COMMAND=memcached -v

The format is intended to be self-describing. The only two gotchas two beware are that this file should be executable and the command should run in the foreground and not daemonize.

If we try to run this service as-is it won't run. By default, every service is disabled. To enable memcached, create an rc.conf with the following:

memcached_ENABLED="YES"

This will cause rustrc (the supervisor written on rc_conf) to keep the memcached daemon running with some provisions for backing off during failure.

This isn't a very useful example as our end state, provides a starting point. We may want to configure memcached and going back to the rc.d file and redeploying it every time won't be fun.

Enter the first principle of rc_conf: A separation between configuration and where the value gets used. rc.d scripts provide the "hooks" for the configuration by taking command line applications and binding them to rc.conf files. For example, if we wanted to configure the port and hostname for memcached, we modify the rc.d script to look like:

COMMAND=memcached -v ${HOST:+-i ${HOST}} ${PORT:+-p ${PORT}}

This will pull the values of HOST and PORT from the rc_conf where running memcached. But globals get messy fast. Whose HOST; whose PORT? This is where rc_conf comes in. To set the hostname, add this to rc.conf:

memcached_HOST="memcached.example.org"
memcached_PORT="11211"

If either of these were absent, the "memcache_"-prefix-free versions would be substituted in their place. So to have a default host for all services that can be overridden, specify HOST=default.example.org.

Aliasing

To spin up a second memcached on 22122, we can add this to our rc.conf:

memcached_two_INHERIT="YES"
memcached_two_ALIASES="memcached"
memcached_two_PORT="22122"

An alias such as this one uses one rc.d stub to launch two memcached instances.

Status

Maintenance track. The library is considered stable and will be put into maintenance mode if unchanged for one year.

Scope

This crate provides the RcConf type, rcscript interpreter, and other rc tools.

Tools

• rcdebug: Show a debug struct of an rc_conf file. Usage: rcdebug rc.conf
• rcexamine: Show the rc_conf as the parser sees it. Usage: rcexamine rc.conf:rc.conf.local
• rcinvoke: Run a service in the foreground as rc_conf would prescribe. Usage: rcinovke --rc-conf-path rc.conf:rc.conf.local --rc-d-path rc.d:/srv/rc.d memcached
• rclist: List the rc.d scripts available in an rc.d path Usage: rclist rc.d /srv/rc.d
• rcvar: Output the rcvariables a service looks to for its configuration. Usage: rcvar --rc-conf-path rc.conf:rc.conf.local --rc-d-path rc.d:/srv/rc.d memcached
• rcscript: An interpreter for rc.d shell stubs. Usage: as an interpreter

Warts

• A string with '{' and '}' characters outside the variable declarations won't parse right now.

Documentation

The latest documentation is always available at docs.rs.