Let me make a really wild suggestion that is really impractical:
    rather than copying SysV, someone should figure out how to
    do the following:

	    * define system states symbolically (not via
	      numbers)  (e.g. multi-user, etc.)

	    * provide classes of dependencies for start-up
	      script ordering, both forward and backward.

Hmm..  I can see it now...

Run a sed script over /etc/rc*.d/*, generate a makefile, and then have
init use "make" to transition between states... :-)

						- Bill