Chkconfig

Chkconfig is an essential tool for managing symbolic links found in the /etc/rc[0-6].d directories on System V based UNIX systems. Its innovative approach to managing scores of symbolic links can save system administrators a lot of time and effort.

Originally created by SGI, this project is now available for Linux users, thanks to the efforts of Italo Lisi and Luigi Genoni. RedHat later created their own C version of the same tool, which forms the basis for the code provided in this version. It has some additional features such as an autoconf style configure script and detection for the /etc/rc.d directory (e.g., '/etc' under Solaris).

The newest version of Chkconfig (1.3.30a) is based on the Fedora Core 6 version, which I have tested on Debian. However, I believe it should compile effortlessly on other distributions, provided the necessary library supporting the getopt_long() function is available.

The installation process follows the standard GNU build process:
# ./configure
# make
# make install

The configure script should detect your OS configurations and compile the program with the correct defaults. In case it is unable to determine the initscript directories needed for your platform, there are specific options documented in INSTALL. It would be helpful if you emailed me the options you gave to configure so that I can modify the sources to support your system automatically.

You can disable compilation of the 'ntsysv' program by passing --disable-ntsysv option to configure. Similarly, you can use --disable-alternatives to skip compilation of the alternatives program.

With version 1.3.30a, Chkconfig has been updated to match the version distributed by Fedora Core 6. Moreover, the "/usr/sbin/alternatives" program is now included in the release, and there is no need to install the 'popt' library anymore. Overall, Chkconfig is an easy-to-use software with a lot of useful features, making it an essential tool for any UNIX system administrator.