When the user does /etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart and he doesn't get dhcp, apache and exim are stopped, even when they are binding to the loca interface. This situation is typical for when someone is somewhere in an open space and tries to connect to a WiFi network. When the network connectivity is restored and /etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart rerun, Apache and Exim aren't restored either. There is a perfect reason to run Apache without connectivity - I am having a local copy of webpage on my notebook which is written in PHP and cannot be viewed without Apache. When I debug the webpage I am looking with a browser at the locally running HTTP server. I suggest Apache and Exim to not be stopped by /etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart and if there's a technical reason to stop them, then for them to be restarted again. I am using the locally bound interface of Exim for fetchmail.
For stuff that needs net, you need to set RC_NET_STRICT_CHECKING accordingly in /etc/conf.d/rc if you want it to run even when network is not available. See comments in that file.
Thanks :) I didn't have the slightest notion that I should look into this file :( Not getting dhcp is a very common situation. I suggest to enrich the dhcp failure error message of net.eth0 script with "Some of the services were left shut down. To change this behaviour see RC_PARALLEL_STARTUP in /etc/conf.d/rc."
