[NTLUG:Discuss] restart or reload?

[MadHat]

On Thu, 2002-11-21 at 08:38, m m wrote:
> All:
> 
> I always confused with restart, reload and kill -HUP pid.
> when I look/run at the rc files, there always are several options, some of 
> them is clear, like stop, start... but I am confused on the different on 
> restart and reload.
> 
> does reload and restart do the same thing ---update/reload configure files
> reload without stop the service and restart does?
> 
> is "reload" = "kill -HUP service/pid"?
> 

Its going to depend on how the daemon was written.  Some are written to
understand HUP signals, others are not.  The usual terminology is
something like restart is kill and start again while reload is kill -HUP
(if supported).

> 
> whare Do I find information about update process with new modified configure 
> file with stop process/service?

hmmm....  not sure there is a definitive answer.

> for example I modified /etc/hosts files, and what the system take effect 
> base on new modifiy information without reboot or stop networking service, 
> what do I do?

That just works, no restart needed. ;)

> restart or reload rc script (files in /etc/rc.d/init.d/) file? which rc 
> script files?
> 

hmmmm...  a good place to get this info....well, in most of the init
files, there is a section that has  a short description.  As for what
needs to be restarted when something is changed, is once again going to
depend on the daemon and how it was written and what you are trying to
do, so you fall back to the HOWTOs and READMEs and man pages.

Maybe someone will have a better answer ;)

> thanks



-- 
MadHat at Unspecific.com
`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here...'
   -- Lewis Carroll - _Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland_