Re: inetd(8): continue or exit on error?

[David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Mon, May 29, 2023 at 10:11:09AM +0200, tlaronde%polynum.com@localhost wrote:
 > There are infelicities in /usr/src/usr.sbin/inetd/parse.c and I will
 > send a PR with patches attached.
 > 
 > The question is what to do in case of a config file not found (this is
 > the initial problem: the realpath() return status is not tested and a
 > structure is inconditionnally added to a linked list with an unreachable
 > config file).
 > 
 > It seems to me, since these are services, that the failure to load a
 > config is critical enough (since the server may be then servicing what
 > was not intended to be serviced; the reverse is less problematic)
 > to exit at least on this error.
 > 
 > What do others think?

I have not read most of the traffic yet, but I feel, fairly strongly,
that inetd should _not_ exit, except (maybe) if the config is broken
during its initial startup. It's a critical service.

At the moment it's no longer the case that remote machines are likely
to become completely inaccessible and require a site visit if inetd
craps out, but that could change again in the future.

There's at least one variant inetd out there that does not exit once
started, except for SIGTERM. I know this, because I wrote/patched it :-)

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland%netbsd.org@localhost