RC.CONF(8)              OpenBSD System Manager's Manual             RC.CONF(8)

NAME
     rc.conf, rc.conf.local - system daemon configuration database

DESCRIPTION
     This file contains a series of Bourne-shell syntax assignments that are
     used to configure the system daemons.  It is not read by the kernel, but
     is sourced by various other files in the /etc/rc.*  series in order to
     set shell variables used therein to control the behaviour of the scripts.

     It is advisable to leave the /etc/rc.conf file untouched, and instead
     create and edit a new /etc/rc.conf.local file.  Variables set in this
     file will override variables previously set in /etc/rc.conf.

     There are three sections in this file.  The first is used to turn fea-
     tures on or off.  For example, whether the system runs the dhcpd daemon
     is determined by the line in this section

           dhcpd_flags=NO          # for normal use: ""

     If this line is edited to contain some valid dhcpd daemon command-line
     flags, such as

           dhcpd_flags="-A abandoned"      # for normal use: ""

     then the dhcpd daemon will be started with those options.

     The second section contains some other programs that can either be run or
     not, but that don't need options.  They can be set to YES or NO.  For ex-
     ample, the line

           nfs_server=NO

     prevents the NFS server daemons from starting.  To run NFS, just change
     this line's value from NO to YES, and also make whatever changes are
     needed for the server to have something to do (set up the exports(5) file
     etc.).

     The third section contains values that parameterize servers started by
     one of the first two sections, and are ignored if the corresponding serv-
     er is not running.  For example, if nfs_server, is enabled, then the line

           nfsd_flags="-tun 4"

     provides command-line arguments for the NFS server.

     This particular line instructs nfsd(8) to start four copies of the serv-
     er.  On a busy file server, 8 (or more) copies are recommended.

SEE ALSO
     init(8), intro(8), rc(8)

HISTORY
     The rc.conf file first appeared in OpenBSD 2.2.

OpenBSD 4.5                       May 7, 2008                                1