runit on debian sid success, and questions

[Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@recycle.lbl.gov>]

Gerrit -

I have my debian sid amd64 system converted to runit-1.05.
The stock init scripts are totally out of control, IMNSHO.
I'd even like to rework the rcS (one-time) scripts, but
by running /etc/init.d/rcS from /etc/runit/1 I can postpone
that effort.

I'm not done setting everything up, but at the moment my
system is running about as well as it did before the change.

$ ls /var/service
boa  getty-5  getty-6  klogd  ntpclient  qmail  socklog  sshd  xfs
$

The only (non-kernel) daemons left running _not_ under runsvdir
are udevd, portmap, and gconfd-2.  Vixie cron and I aren't getting
along very well at the moment, it's not running at all.  :-p

Here are my questions (so far) about runit and friends:

In the debian kit, most static files are in /etc/runit,
while dynamic files are in /var.  A forest of symlinks
connects the two "databases".  One exception to that rule
is the log configuration file, in /var/log/foo/config.
Is this purposeful and/or unavoidable?

The process of setting up service directories is tedious.
It's a little late for me, but I can imagine automating some
of the creation and maintenance process.  Maybe even (gasp)
a GUI.  Are you aware of any efforts in this direction?

Thanks for freeing me from SysV-init!

      - Larry