Packaging openrc services in Debian/Devuan

[Tom]

On 26/9/2026 01:22, Matthias Geiger wrote:
> Hi Tom,
> 
> Sep 25, 2026 15:11:44 Tom <wirelessduck at gmail.com>:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm attempting to package an openrc init script and conf.d for openbao for my personal use.  The /etc/init.d/openbao script and /etc/conf.d/openbao are already developed by Alpine linux[0] so I don't need to be concerned with writing those.
>>
>> I would like to know if there are any guidelines available for the packaging configuration of these two files.
>>
> 
> not yet. Mark and myself are working on it, but nothing official yet.
> 
>> Can I use dh_installinit for openrc-run init scripts? I'm guessing it would not yet support /etc/conf.d files?
>>
> 
> No, not really. I started writing a new helper called deb-openrc-helper 
> which should do that; but it is still very much WIP.
> 
>> Is openrc supported by update-rc.d and invoke-rc.d? I saw that policy mentions using update-rc.d for enabling autostarting of the daemon.[1]
> 
> No, those explicity cater only to SysV init scripts and not "native" 
> openRC ones.
> 
>>
>> Alternatively without any debhelper utility, is it sufficient to add the files into debian/package.install and call rc-update add/del in postinst/prerm?
> 
> Yes, that should do it.

Good to know, thanks.

>>
>> Is there any policy regarding whether a package should start/stop the service upon package install/remove/purge with `rc-service <service> start/stop` if we are not using update-rc.d?
>>
>> Do the files still go into /etc/init.d/ and /etc/conf.d/? I noticed openrc 0.64 was released upstream recently and wasn't sure if there was any change in preferred file paths for Debian.
>>
> 
> With 0.64 RC_PATH is now supported. This means services can be started 
> from under /usr to. Since my proposed Debian policy amendment to get 
> proper openRC support would require that (also to not overwrite / 
> conflict existing sysvinit ones), we decided to install the services 
> to /usr/lib/rc/init.d (and conf.d), resp.
> 
> So I would advise to not install it for now, since once we ship 0.64 
> (and codify this in policy), a different path will be needed.

Thanks. I will install it manually until the next release appears before 
attempting any packaging.

> Let me know if you have any more questions.
> 
> Help in writing the helper program is much appreciated btw ;)

I don't claim to be much of an expert on this topic but I can take a 
look after the next release is integrated better into Debian and I may 
have more time to spare then.

> best,
> 
> werdahias
> 
> PS: sent from mobile, excuse the formatting/brevity

Thanks again,
Tom