Create the xinetd.conf file with the following commands: cp /etc/xinetd.conf /etc/xinetd.conf.bak sed -e 's/etc/sbin/g' xinetd/sample.conf > /etc/xinetd.conf /etc/xinetd.conf Create the xinetd boot script: cat > /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd << "EOF" #!/bin/bash # Begin $rc_base/init.d/xinetd # Based on sysklogd script from LFS-3.1 and earlier. # Rewritten by Gerard Beekmans - gerard@linuxfromscratch.org source /etc/sysconfig/rc source $rc_functions case "$1" in start) echo "Starting xinetd..." loadproc /usr/sbin/xinetd ;; stop) echo "Stopping xinetd..." killproc /usr/sbin/xinetd ;; reload) echo "Reloading xinetd..." killall -HUP xinetd ;; restart) $0 stop sleep 1 $0 start ;; status) statusproc /usr/sbin/xinetd ;; *) echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|reload|restart|status}" exit 1 ;; esac # End $rc_base/init.d/xinetd EOF Add the run level symlinks: chmod 754 /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd && ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd /etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K49xinetd && ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd /etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K49xinetd && ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd /etc/rc.d/rc2.d/K49xinetd && ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S23xinetd && ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd /etc/rc.d/rc4.d/S23xinetd && ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S23xinetd && ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd /etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K49xinetd Now, we'll use our new boot script to start xinetd: /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd start Checking the /var/log/daemon.log file should prove quite entertaining. This file may contain entries similar to the following: Aug 22 21:40:21 dps10 xinetd[2696]: Server /usr/sbin/in.rlogind is not executable [line=29] Aug 22 21:40:21 dps10 xinetd[2696]: Error parsing attribute server - DISABLING SERVICE [line=29] Aug 22 21:40:21 dps10 xinetd[2696]: Server /usr/sbin/in.rshd is not executable [line=42] These errors are due to the fact that we don't have most of the servers that xinetd is trying to control installed yet.