well, this is something that i have been interested in for a long time, so
i thought i would throw my two cents in.. :)

curently, i am not very fond with the methods of rc and rc.local.  even
without modification, they can be very inconvenient at times.  ie, how easy
is it just to turn the network off?  with local packages installed, this
just complicates things even more.  there are just no previsions made for
dependencies of any sort.  well, anyway, let me get to my point..

here is what i see..  why not just use the SYSV init.  if nothing, it provides
a good deal of flexibility, and it need not be used in the traditional way.
the only "run levels" i really see of any use are single user, multi user,
and shutdown.  perhaps the 3rd one could just be used for local stuff.  anyway,
the SYSV init provides a convenient way of switching states, imho.  i would
not intend to use them as a method of keeping track of dependencies, but it is
nice to have a clean way of shutting things down.  for dependencies, i would
propose something like the following.  there would be no S?? scripts, but
rather the scripts in the /etc/rc?.d dirs would have dependencies tags listed
in each.  the coresponding /etc/rc? would take care of these and make sure
things were started and shut down in a suitable order.  i would also like to
see something similar to an rc.conf.  prehaps just something on a per-package
basis.. located in /etc/config though.  perhaps we can also keep a list
of which subsystems were on or off in a file here too.

anyway, perhaps this is not the best solution, but imho, the SYSV init provides
enough flexibility to incorperate any number of schemes, and already exists.  i
would be really dissapointed if this came down to a BSD/SYSV religeous thing,
as i personally am just interested in a good os... and im sure lots of people
agree.  it could not hurt, to have...

as always, i dont think ive done a good job explaining, but oh well...  if you
are confused, i could try to clarify. :)

-chris