Once upon a time, Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek <zbyszek(a)in.waw.pl> said:
getservbyname would use /etc/services, but I'm not sure how
widely it is used.
A lot of code just hardcodes a specific number… Local configuration for
port numbers is a concept that only works if somebody synchronizes the
file across machines, which is unlikely to happen.
Similarly for /etc/protocols… Code would generally use a define, not
resolve the protocol number from a string.
I removed both files on a machine and rebooted and there are no
messages or any other indiciation that this makes a difference.
And in particular in the initrd, they are just not neeed.
Just checking one thing, NFS uses getservbyname, so they are needed, and
needed in the initrd for NFS root.
--
Chris Adams <linux(a)cmadams.net>