In initscripts-4.80.3-i386.rpm package in /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file in line 49 there is sysctl command with an unsuported -p parameter (should be sysctl -n /etc/sysctl.conf instead)
Um, the sysctl I have supports the -p option, and that's what used to read commands from a file. [notting@bobby:~ ]$ sysctl -? usage: sysctl [-n] variable ... sysctl [-n] -w variable=value ... sysctl [-n] -a sysctl [-n] -p <file> (default /etc/sysctl.conf) sysctl [-n] -A [notting@bobby:~/prog/initscripts ]$ rpm -qf /sbin/sysctl procps-2.0.6-1 Perhaps you have a different sysctl binary/older procps? It looks like the the -p setting was added in procps-2.0.4; I'll fix the dependencies on initscripts so it requires at least that version.