Where gerdesj says "Miguel's method", xe is talking about the init and rc system written by Miquel van Smoorenberg (originally for Minix and later ported to Linux) that copied some, but far from all, of AT&T System 5 init, rc, and adjuncts.
gerdesj is specifically referring to the well-known problem that the helper utilities and functions for rc scripts varied wildly from operating system to operating system.
It's worth noting that the Debian people introduced another set of conventions recently, in 2014, with rc scripts in the Debian variant of the van Smoorenburg system now interpreted by a /lib/init/init-d-script command instead of a shell.
* http://jdebp.eu./FGA/system-5-rc-problems.html