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It seems as if the accepted way to specify a dependency of service A on service B in upstart is to work in the reverse dependency direction: give service B a start on starting A stanza.

I'd like to avoid that for two reasons:

  1. It seems bizarre to modify B's config file when a new service that depends on it comes along: the new service should declare its dependencies; B shouldn't have to know about them.

  2. I'd like to automate the construction of service hierarchies by proceeding topologically from a dependency graph which is already constructed and it would be inelegant to have to convert it into a reverse dependency graph just for this.

I thought I could just start the dependent services in a pre-start script stanza in the conf file, but it appears that that won't work if I also have setuid and setgid stanzas---since then the pre-start script would be run with that user/group.

Is there an idiomatic way to do this (i.e. declare dependencies rather than reverse dependencies)? This answer is not what I want since I don't want to also have to write a non-upstart init script.

(I suppose start on started B for A would work in this case, but I'm not sure if that would work if A had multiple dependencies: would start on started B and started C work? If I start B and then C, will A get both events at once?Also this gets the logic wrong even in the one-dependency case: start on started B says that B's having started is a sufficient condition for starting A. But I want to say that B's having started is a necessary condition for starting A, and a condition that the action of starting A should make true.)

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  • I don't understand the question. One purpose of Upstart and Systemd is that you don't need to diagram or reverse-diagram whole dependency trees. Each service states it's own direct dependencies, and the system figures out the most efficient way to start them all. You don't need to modify B's config file is a new service depends on it - the new service's config file simply notes that it depends upon B. Service hierarchies are already automated - you tell the system what service you want, and the system figures out what it needs to start/stop to achieve your goal.
    – user535733
    Sep 11, 2014 at 16:37

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