Comment Re:kill -1 (Score 1) 469
Why do we need this? I've been in unix for over 20 years and never even heard of kill -1.
I'm in the same boat. Is linux so unreliable and prone to disaster that "kill -1" used on a regular basis? There seems to be so much whining about "systemd", you just can't work out how much is complete FUD and whats a genuine gripe. Most of the gripes seems to be neutered by the Myths page http://0pointer.de/blog/projec...
There is an old saying that Unix is user friendly, it is just particular about who it chooses for friends. Maybe the two of you have been hanging around *nix for years, but how well do you really know it? Kill -1 (aka kill -HUP) is pretty handing if you are running infrastructure that other people rely upon for uninterrupted service. Just rereading a config file for updates is generally better and easier than stopping and restarting daemons*, and plenty of standard daemons expect it. It also a handy command since at times it will kill things that other variations of the kill command won't, including kill -9. It also can be a good place to start since "gentle" kills give a process an opportunity to clean up after themselves.
If you take into account all of the standard utilities of Unix and its derivatives there is an enormous amount of functionality and multiple ways to accomplish the same task. I haven't met anyone yet that was fluent in every tool and facility in standard Unixland. That is part of what I like about it - there is so much you can learn and apply, and knowing which tools can scratch particular itches. Even "obsolete" tools can be useful.
* Although there are times when stopping and restarting is a good thing too.