In alt.os.linux.slackware, Antoine Jacoutot dared to utter,
> By the way I think a rc.conf like file for configuring services would be
> great.

While I like rc.conf, I don't like it enough to change the Slackware
init system to work with it. Currently it is very easy to change what
services start up and when using Slackware's init scripts. Simply
remove the executable permission on rc.httpd or rc.sendmail and it
won't activate on startup. Building in a single configuration file for
startup would add much more complexity to a distribution that aims
first to be simple.

In order to facilitate a rc.conf, one would have to write checks into
every config file for configuration information, resulting in IMHO a
harder to configure system. What services are started at boot time are
simply executable rc.* files under /etc/rc.d/ and these services all
have configuration information found in intuitively named files under
/etc. What's wrong with that?

The one "single" configuration file that has been added recently is
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf, which I think is much better than having to
place configuration information in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1. Really, that's
all I use rc.conf for anyway. Currently my rc.conf file has IP
information and a hostname in it, nothing more (ok,
sendmail_enable="YES" too, but we've already gone over how easy it is
to control process startup).

--
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5