Linux – xinetd won’t start

Silly question… I can't get xinetd to start on my linux box (CENTOS 4.8).

I've got so far as to remove it and reinstall it via yum. When I try to start it, stop it, etc. I get no error at all.

   [root@server ~]# service xinetd stop
   [root@server ~]# service xinetd start
   [root@server ~]# service xinetd restart

I would expect to see some standard status from the system (e.g. "Service Started – [OK]" I also don't see any log entries in /var/log/messages

I've tried running the init script with the -d option but nada. No errors. No confirmation messages that the service started. Nothing.

Any ideas?

[UPDATE] – As per recommendations, here's an output of cat /etc/init.d/xinetd

#!/bin/bash
#
# xinetd        This starts and stops xinetd.
#
# chkconfig: 345 56 50
# description: xinetd is a powerful replacement for inetd. \
#              xinetd has access control mechanisms, extensive \
#              logging capabilities, the ability to make services \
#              available based on time, and can place \
#              limits on the number of servers that can be started, \
#              among other things.
#
# processname: /usr/sbin/xinetd
# config: /etc/sysconfig/network
# config: /etc/xinetd.conf
# pidfile: /var/run/xinetd.pid

PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin

# Source function library.
. /etc/init.d/functions

# Get config.
test -f /etc/sysconfig/network && . /etc/sysconfig/network

# More config

test -f /etc/sysconfig/xinetd && . /etc/sysconfig/xinetd

# Check that we are root ... so non-root users stop here
[ `id -u` = 0 ] || exit 1

# Check that networking is up.
[ "${NETWORKING}" = "yes" ] || exit 0

[ -f /usr/sbin/xinetd ] || exit 1
[ -f /etc/xinetd.conf ] || exit 1

RETVAL=0

prog="xinetd"

start(){
    echo -n $"Starting $prog: "

# Localization for xinetd is controlled in /etc/synconfig/xinetd
    if [ -z "$XINETD_LANG" -o "$XINETD_LANG" = "none" -o "$XINETD_LANG" = "NONE" ]; then
        unset LANG LC_TIME LC_ALL LC_MESSAGES LC_NUMERIC LC_MONETARY LC_COLLATE
    else
        LANG="$XINETD_LANG"
        LC_TIME="$XINETD_LANG"
        LC_ALL="$XINETD_LANG"
        LC_MESSAGES="$XINETD_LANG"
        LC_NUMERIC="$XINETD_LANG"
        LC_MONETARY="$XINETD_LANG"
        LC_COLLATE="$XINETD_LANG"
        export LANG LC_TIME LC_ALL LC_MESSAGES LC_NUMERIC LC_MONETARY LC_COLLATE
    fi
    unset HOME MAIL USER USERNAME
    daemon $prog -stayalive -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid "$EXTRAOPTIONS"
    RETVAL=$?
    echo
    touch /var/lock/subsys/xinetd
    return $RETVAL
}

stop(){
    echo -n $"Stopping $prog: "
    killproc $prog
    RETVAL=$?
    echo
    rm -f /var/lock/subsys/xinetd
    return $RETVAL

}

reload(){
    echo -n $"Reloading configuration: "
    killproc $prog -HUP
    RETVAL=$?
    echo
    return $RETVAL
}

restart(){
    stop
    start
}

condrestart(){
    [ -e /var/lock/subsys/xinetd ] && restart
    return 0
}


# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
    start)
        start
        ;;
    stop)
        stop
        ;;
    status)
        status $prog
        ;;
    restart)
        restart
        ;;
    reload)
        reload
        ;;
    condrestart)
        condrestart
        ;;
    *)
        echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|restart|condrestart|reload}"
        RETVAL=1
esac

exit $RETVAL